Togo sends hundreds of prisoners on parole
In Togo, hundreds of prisoners have been released on parole.
This move has been made because of renovation works launched by prison authorities in all of the country’s detention centers.
Other countries in the West African sub-region face similar problem with overcrowded prisons and detention/correction centers.
Detention facilities have been overcrowded, with occupation rates being put at 156% nationally and a staggering 291% in the capital, Lome.
Click audio below to listen to a report by WADR’s Correspondent Ida Badio.
Liberia prison conditions questioned
Liberia’s prison system has come in for serious criticisms over the past years for the state of prison condition and the condition of inmates such as cases of long detentions without trial.
One of the criticisms some time ago came from the human rights group, Amnesty International.
Also in its latest human rights report on Liberia, the US State Department report has also spoken of the deplorable conditions of prisons and other detention facilities.
But the Liberian government has since rejected the US report, describing it as imbalance and a misrepresentation of the state of affairs in the country.
Now, the head of a local NGO, Prison Fellowship Liberia has called on prison authorities in the country to make detention centers accessible to monitors.
The Rev. Francis Kollie has said this would help improve conditions of prisoners.
As WADR’s Monrovia Correspondent William Selmah reports, the Prison Fellowship official was speaking at the opening of a training program for prison monitors this week.
Click audio below to listen
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