By: Jacqueline L. Dennis
The Monrovia Central Prison, commonly known as South Beach is said to be overcrowded with 1,600 plus inmates for a facility constructed to hold only 375, as congestion is said to have caused several inmates to suffer illnesses, including skin infection, malaria, and among others sicknesses.
Due to the over-crowdedness of the Prison facility, authority assigned at the prison compound have resolved not to accept new inmates until decongestion of the facility is carried out.
In an interview with reporters in Monrovia via mobile phone on Wednesday December 14, 2022 the Assistant Justice Minister for Corrections and Rehabilitation, Eddie Tarawali denied the allegations of death as it has been suspected by the public that some inmates died in recent time due to the over-crowdedness, but admitted the facility is indeed overcrowded.
Minister Tarawali admitted that even though the are some inmates who are sick at the facility, but they are responding to treatment at the mini clinic within the prison compound, stressing that when it’s a critical condition of inmates they are transferred to the John F. Kennedy Medical Center or Redemption Hospital for Medicare.
According to him, normally people died in society and the prison is no exception even though the prison is overcrowded, but nobody has died as per his records.
He noted when people are sick, the mini clinic deals with conditions and health situations that can be handled within the Monrovia Central Prison compound but when the issues is critical they refer the sick inmates to the JFK.
He lamented that some of the illnesses that affect inmates at the Monrovia Central Prison include rashes, skin infections and while others have Malaria which can be handled by the mini-clinic.Assistant Minister Tarawali emphasized that due to the over-crowdedness government has begun the construction of extra prison facilities within the Monrovia Central Prison compound.
“One of the greatest issues is capacity. When they were constructing the Monrovia Central Prison the people never thought that the population would have increased so they only constructed it to accommodate 375 inmates which was a mistake that they made. There will always be population growth, and once the population increases there will be challenges regarding criminality and that is what has happened right now as the population of Montserrado had increase criminality has also increased. Not only in Montserrado but the16 prisons around the country is also facing similar dilemma.
“However because of the of over-crowdedness of the prison they are told not to accept any inmate until they decongest the facility, adding that they are working with the courts to ensure they can proceed with fast-tracking of Magistrate sitting.”
He explained that the overcrowding is due to the lack of capacity by the country.
“When they were constructing this Monrovia Central Prison, they never taught that the facility would have been overcrowded, that’s the mistake they made” he said.
The Assistant Justice Minister for Corrections and Rehabilitation further stated that there are ongoing construction of the additional prison facility, which is an emergency project, adding to accommodate inmates. He indicated while the construction project is ongoing for extra cells they are working along with the Courts to commit misdemeanor crimes and others in various categories so they will be let out from the Prison.
Moreover, he said there are people who have been convicted with restitution and when you are convicted with restitution and have completed your sentence term but did not restitute fees charged, your time will be calculated and you will be let out to pay the remaining amount.
He stated that the court should be able to litigate that there should be alternative sentences for those people, while the last group will be people of old age from 70 to 80 years but they are not harmful anymore in society.
He added that the process of releasing these Inmates is expected to take place shortly around the 14th to the 17th of December, indicating that it will create free cell for those who committed murder and other hideous crimes to be accommodated in the prison facility.
