By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission, HRCSL, has called on the ministry of internal affairs, ministry of justice and the prisons department to facilitate the institution of a coroner’s inquest into every death that occurred within the country’s prisons.
The commission made the call in the recommendations section of its ‘State or Human Rights Report, 2013’, which was released last week. I
The report expressed concern about the fact that 14 inmates died at the prisons (now correctional centers) but they were apparently never accounted for. It noted that the general conditions of the correctional centers were ye to meet provisions set by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of prisoners.
In November last year, it stated, the commission conducted a tour of the Freetown prisons on Pademba Road and observed that the facility was overcrowded. It revealed that there were 1,702 inmates in custody, “which far exceeds the actual holding capacity of 324”.
It said the commission observed that the Nothern Region correctional facility lacked proper electricity supply, vehicles, essential drug supplies, adequate number of prison personnel and proper beddings.
It revealed that complaints from female prisoner in the South were that they lacked toiletries, “which contravenes the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of prisoners”.
The commission also found out that the Kenema main prisons in Eastern Sierra Leone was under serious threat of escape by prisoners due to the lack of perimeter fence. It noted that the fact that the facility in Kailahun lacked mobility to convey prisoner to court posed a serious challenge to the access to justice by the common man.
The report recommended that the Sierra Leone government should improve on its effort to fully capacitate the prisons department so as to match up to international best practices.
Public Relations Officer at the prisons department, ASP Mohamed Jimmy, explained that they took the best care of inmates and accorded them the necessary rites at the event of death. However, he said he could not debunk anything that the commission said about them but added that they were only making use of what the government provided them with.
He expressed hope that the reviewed constitution would make more provisions for the department “as we are in desperate need of support”.
“We only use what we get from the government to take care of the facilities. We can’t use what we do not have”, ASP Jimmy stated.
© Politico 28/10/14
