By George M.O. Williams
In an unprecedented move, Chief Minister Dr. David Sengeh on Friday, August 30, 2024, paid fines to the tune of Nle111,700 for 47 inmates incarcerated in the Pujehun Correctional Centre, for various petty offences, according to a statement from the Sierra Leone Correctional Service (SLCS).
This gesture will help reduce overcrowding in the Pujehun Correctional Centre which was constructed to originally house seventy- six (76) inmates. However, at the time of the gesture, there were over 10 inmates lodged in the Centre.
Dr. Sengeh said Correctional Centres were crowded with poor people. “They could not pay the fines for which they were convicted. More troubling is the fact that about 90% of the inhabitants are young people,” he said.
“While the Government of President Bio has now passed a new Law in the Criminal Procedure Act which addresses some of these issues …, more justice still needs to be done, quickly.”
He said that he would see that a Judge is sent to visit the prisons immediately to resolve ongoing cases after he observed that about a dozen or more inmates have not been tried for up to two years. “We won’t stop until everyone gets access to quality justice.”
The Chief Minister also observed that the Centre has a fence that does not meet security standards, and also lacks a separate structure for housing female inmates. He said he would take that up with the relevant authorities. He also promised to make it a priority to provide industrial tools to the Centre for the training of inmates.
The Ag. Director General of the SLCS- Brig. Gen. Massaquoi, said the fines paid for the release of 467 inmates is unprecedented in the country. “There is no time in this country that inmates are released from any Correctional Centre in this magnitude, apart from the execution of Presidential Pardon. Even that, it is only in Pademba Road Correctional Centre that such a number is released.”