By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The management of the Pujehun Correctional Centre in southern Sierra Leone has confirmed the death by drowning of an inmate in the River Wanjei.
Mustapha Kpakawa reportedly drowned on April 22 and his body was discovered the following day with the help of some community herbalists. But while the prison authorities say he was trying to escape from detention, the general view on the ground is that he died while fetching water for the prison service.
According to Superintendent Junisa Kamara, the Officer-in-Charge of the Pujehun Correctional Centre, Mustapha was among three inmates who had gone to bathe in the river after a work on a farm. Kamara explained that he had signed a pass for three inmates to do some work in the cassava garden cultivated by the Centre, which is located some 50 metres from the river. He said after the work, the inmates were asked by the warden accompanying them to go to the river for a bath. He said Mustapha suddenly plunged himself into the river and attempted to swim away.
“Even when the prison officer that was assigned to them was shouting alongside the two other inmates for him to come back, he did not stop,” Kamara said.
The prison boss said that this was not the first time prisoners had attempted to escape from the Centre and that the deceased had himself previously tried it. But Kamara assured that they were putting measures in place to curb the trend.
Kpakawa was serving a three-month jail term for wounding.
According to the prison authorities the body of the deceased was handed over to his family, upon their request, after a postmortem report proved the cause of death to be drowning.
Pujehun district has a record of drowning in the River Wanjei almost every year, especially among children who are engaged in sand mining.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
