By Grace Q. Bryant
Varlee Telleh appeared in court upon the orders of the court at the Temple of Justice.
Subpoena witness, Telleh, was brought to court by his lawyers, but due to the information that the Monrovia Central Prison authorities informed the court that they are not accepting any prisoner in the court, neither are they allowing any inmates to get out, he could not testify.
They informed the court through their Director, Varney Lake, that the prison workers said that they are supposed to receive some money that they have not yet received, and therefore, until they can receive that money, they will not allow any inmate to go to prison or come out.
According to Judge Roosevelt, “When we received this information, we called the Minister of Justice to inform him about the situation and how serious it is because this is the second time it has occurred and this case supposed to be expeditiously handled and completed forthwith.”
Judge Willie noted that the Minister informed the court that they will handle everything possible.
“We will resume these proceedings and this is the reason you have not seen the defendants here, nor the trial jurors,” Judge Willie informed.
Judge Willie maintained, “Therefore, since we do not know when they will solve this problem, we do want to reschedule this case for tomorrow, but rather for Wednesday, December 6, at 9:45am prompt.
it can be called that employees of the Monrovia Central Prison on Thursday, November 23, staged a protest preventing inmates from entering and leaving the prison facility, in demand of salaries and benefits, as well as the lack of food and medical supplies.
The situation, which later turned chaotic, led to two people sustaining major injuries, a male and female.
After several minutes of tussle, calm was restored when the Director of Administration at the Liberia National Police, Asatu Reeves, arrived at the scene and held talks with authorities at the prison facility, along with the aggrieved employees.
The angry protesters later extended their protest to the Justice Ministry to seek redress from Justice Minister, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean. At the Ministry of Justice, Deputy Minister of Finance, Planning and Development, Samurai Wolokolie, and others had an indoor meeting on the payment of the officers.
Following the meeting, a press conference was held at the Ministry of Justice to address the plight of the aggrieved prison facility employees.
At the joint press conference organized by the Liberian Joint Security and the Monrovia Central Prison authorities, they assured the media that they were on top of the situation.
The Director of Prisons, Reverend Sainleseh Kwaidah, told journalists that the Government of Liberia has no outstanding salaries for prison employees.
