Efforts for change within Liberia’s infamous prison system have increased following a demonstration by over 200 prisoners at a facility in northern Nimba county. The inmates expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s failure to properly supply them with food and medication.
There have been ongoing grievances regarding the prisons in West Africa. The prisons are consistently overcrowded and prisoners lack essential medical resources, hygiene products, and proper attire.
In the previous year, the capital’s prison in Monrovia experienced a depletion of food supplies, leading to two out of the country’s 15 other prisons temporarily halting the intake of inmates because of lack of food.
Liberia’s Director of Prisons, Rev Sainleseh Kwaidah, attributed the lack of resources to various factors such as overpopulation, insufficient infrastructure, and difficulties with budget allocation and distribution.
Kwaidah stated that funds are primarily allocated for operation, leaving little to no resources for implementing reform. He also mentioned that only six out of the 16 prisons have medical facilities, resulting in medical staff and services being rotated in the remaining 10 prisons.
The limitations on the budget were evident in a report released by the General Auditing Commission in 2021, which revealed a continuous decline in government funding from $1.8 million in 2013 to $311,208 in 2020.
In December of 2022, Monrovia’s central prison, which is the largest in the country, declined to accept new prisoners due to overcrowding. A human rights report from the US state department in the same year revealed that the prison was housing 1,426 inmates, despite its capacity of 374. The report also noted instances where inmates had to take turns sleeping due to the overcrowding.
According to a report by the United Nations, as of November 2022, 73% of the total prison population of 3,256 in the country were individuals awaiting trial and had not yet been sentenced.
In order to combat the ongoing issue of food scarcity, prisons across the nation have been forced to rely on charitable donations of food and hygiene products from outside groups. The Liberian Bar Association (LBA) is also launching legal aid clinics for individuals in pre-trial detention who have been held for longer than the legally mandated time frame, with the goal of reducing their population.
Jamal C Detho, a law professor and vice-president of the LBA, advocated for increased use of plea bargaining and establishment of an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for minor offenses in order to decrease the number of inmates. He emphasized the importance of capacity building for probation officers and a functional probation system that would allow individuals to fulfill community service instead of serving time in jail for lesser offenses.
In the upcoming year, Joseph Boakai, the newly elected president of Liberia, will be sworn into office after narrowly defeating incumbent George Weah in the presidential runoff election last month. Weah, a former soccer player, initially gained popularity and optimism when he took office in 2017, but many Liberians have become disappointed with the slow progress in addressing issues such as corruption, poverty, and unemployment.
The government made a commitment last year to construct a new prison in order to alleviate overcrowding, however, there has been no progress on the construction. In the interim, some prisons have undergone renovations and the government has initiated projects to help inmates grow their own food at two facilities.
Kwaidah stated that there is a strategic plan in place until 2027, focused on prison reform. They expressed the need for everyone’s involvement and expressed hope for successful execution of the plan.
Source: theguardian.com
