By Janet A. Sesay
Chief Superintendent of Prison (CSP) Foday Ishmael Kamara on Friday, September 9, 2022, before Justice Allan Holloway at the close of the High Court Session in Freetown, gave an analysis of inmates at Freetown’s Male, Female and Reintegration Correctional Services.
Led in evidence by State Prosecutor Umu Sumaray, CSP Kamara said there are two thousand and fifty-six (2,056) inmates in the male, female and reintegration correctional centres.
He further informed the court that inmates enjoy recreational facilities; for example, the Male Correctional Facility has a football field where they normally play games on weekends, including indoor games like checkers, ludo and the like.
CSP Foday Ishmael Kamara continued that for now there is only a doctor from the Ministry of Health assigned to the prison for the entire country, and the doctor is always at the centre from Monday to Friday, except on Saturdays and Sundays.
He said the prison provides security officers out of the centres on a shift bases when an inmate is admitted out of the centre.
In terms of food he said the inmates have breakfast in the morning and double diet in the afternoon, which is lunch and dinner.
He said each inmate is served 32 ounce per meal and for breakfast they are served with bread and butter or bread with mayonnaise. For inmates who are under special care their diets are determined by the nutritionist.
He said for the lunch menu, they cook beans and rice on Mondays, and on the other days they are served potato leaves and groundnut soup.
Mr Kamara said foreign national are not used to Sierra Leonean food so they provide them with their own food stuff, adding that inmates who attend court sittings usually get their meals when they return to the centres.
He said in terms of sanitary provisions the inmates are still operating the bucket system.
He said they have access to toilet facilities during the day but at night they use the bucket system, which they empty out in the mornings.
In terms of consistent water supply, CSP F. I. Kamara said they work alongside Guma on that, dilating that they have frequent water supply, failing which there is a backup water bowser that supplies them with water.
He said inmates take baths on a daily basis, noting that some inmates refuse to take their baths.
CSP Kamara said visiting hours is every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, ‘and for free’, adding that inmates also enjoy watching television.
Also speaking, Cecilia Tucker from the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board said during the last closing session certain recommendations were made by the court that had not been fulfilled, such as the bucket system and the hospital that was burnt down during the prison break.
She said that the court ordered the same witness at the last closing session to inform the authorities about the bucket system and the hospital, but still there is no improvement.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Foday I. Kamara said the senior management of prison has written a letter to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the recommendations, but their responses are still pending, going as far as disclosing that although NGOs had gone to prison and surveyed the hospital and workshop, it is still pending as there is no development as of yet.
The witness said for the Male Correctional Facility they have 324 cells with six to seven persons per cell; the female facility has 15 cells.
He said government is trying to relocate the Correctional Centre to Songo, revealing that they have met with landowners and discussion is in progress.
CSP F. I. Kamara said the management is encouraging doctors to apply, for which they have had three doctor applicants, but that they are still waiting for the government to fund them, ‘as there is no funding yet’.
He said the challenges they are facing is with the mentally ill inmates, as some of them have been rejected by the Kissy Mental Home, adding that some of them are hostile.
Justice Holloway therefore ordered Chief Superintendent of Prison Foday Ishmael Kamara to meet his authorities again to work on the recommendations of the court about the bucket system and the hospital by the next closing session of the High Court.