This is a recommendation the commission came to, after its findings that Mile II, as well as other correctional facilities across the country, are unsuitable for human beings.
“The housing at Mile II Central Jail is substandard, degrading and unsuitable for human habitation. Given the financial complications involved in rehabilitating the facilities, the Commission feels it is imperative that new facilities be constructed suitable for prisoners in a modern democratic society,” the TRRC report said.
The commission also recommends that “Appointments to all positions in the Prison Service, especially management positions, should be based on merit and appropriate academic qualifications”.
“An approved service program should be drawn up for the Prison Service detailing the minimum qualifications for each position and providing all categories of staff with equal opportunity to progress in the service without any form of discrimination.”
“Existing archaic prison laws should be repealed and replaced with modern, progressive laws that meet the requirements of a modern democratic society and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.”
“It is inhumane and cruel to make prisoners sleep in toilets or to be crammed in like sardines. The government should provide sufficient facilities to meet the needs of the prison population,” the report further stresses.
“Jeshwang Prison for Juvenile Offenders should focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment and should be provided with recreational, educational and counseling facilities.”
“Janjanbureh prison also needs to be rehabilitated. The female prison population is low. Therefore, an appropriate cell must be provided for female prisoners. Long periods of pretrial detention have been a major problem in all prisons in the country. . .”
The government was also urged to put in place a system to ensure that those in pretrial detention are tried within a reasonable time and with full respect for their rights.
“Adequate resources should be provided for food and medicine. The prison diet should be reviewed and improved to achieve a sufficient level of healthy and adequate food, so that prisoners receive three balanced meals a day.”
“All cooks and food handlers working in the prison should always receive the appropriate training necessary to be able to carry out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. The government should put in place a system to ensure regular medical checks for cooks and food handlers to ensure they are healthy and do not transmit
diseases.”
“All prisons should be equipped with modern kitchen facilities. The prison service should enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health to assign qualified health personnel to the various prison clinics and provide adequate/appropriate training to the prison staff. prison staff attached to clinics.”
“All prisons should be provided with adequate quarantine cells to contain infectious diseases. Alternatively, persons suffering from such diseases should be removed from prison and placed under adequate care until they recover to continue their sentence. prison. This is even more critical now given the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The report also states that the government should ensure that prison establishments are inspected by competent persons at regular intervals to ensure that the facilities are clean, hygienic, safe and suitable for human habitation.
