The superintendent for the National Palace for Corrections in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County says inmates at the National Corrections Center defecate in buckets and later dispose of the waste at a designated site in the prison compound.
Superintendent Crispin Doe observed that the lack of a proper hygiene and sanitation and adequate feeding of the prison are few of the contributing factors to the health condition of most of the inmates at facility.
He made the statement when two human rights officers from the UN Office for the High Commission for Human Rights visited the National Correction Palace on May 26, 2023 on a routine monitoring visit.
“Every cell supposed to have a bathroom, but unfortunately, it is not there. In the 21st Century, people are still toileting in mess buckets in prison. It is not hygienic, it is not safe and it is a gross violation to their rights to a sanitized environment,” Mr. Doe noted.
He said the over crowdedness of the prison and the poor water system are two major factors responsible for the poor sanitary condition of inmates at the prison facility.
“The water system is very poor. We are feeding on only one pump; prisoners, Police Support Unit (PSU) officers and corrections officer assigned on the compound and this place has exceeded its full capacity. It is a security risk for the officers and a human rights issue for the inmates,” he asserted.
He informed the UN delegation that the correction palace was built as a national prison facility for 275 convicts from various prison facilities across the country, but up to the time of the visit, there were 362 persons including pretrial detainees remanded at the facility.
“Grand Gedeh Magisterial Court does not have a prison of its own. So, detainees from the various court around here and those from the national level have populated this place beyond it capacity,” Mr. Doe stated.
He noted that with the over crowdedness of the place, they have to move the females to the administrative wing to accommodate the male dominated population.
A female inmate (name withheld) confirmed, “We are women and we have special needs and privacy, but in here, there is no bathroom and we have to use buckets to toilet and take it outside in front of other inmates which is not safe at all,” she observed.
“We are asking the government and its friends to help us with proper accommodation at this prison cell, she appealed.
The UN human rights officers said the rights of persons in detention should be the concern of the state. Atty. Roosevelt Jayjay observed that Article 21 (e) of the Constitution of Liberia provides that, “No person charged, arrested, restricted, detained or otherwise held in confinement shall be subjected to torture or inhumane treatment….”
“Also, Articles 2(1) and 2(2) Convention Against Torture states that a “State Party has an obligation to take effective measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction, including legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures” and “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked in justification of torture respectively.”
He said the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) also expressively sanctioned all acts of torture. The Committee against Torture, in its general comment No. 2 (2008) on the implementation of Art. 2 by states parties, also further clarified that the requirement under the convention against torture’s Art. 1 of “consent or acquiescence” by the state is equivalent to a due diligence obligation for the state to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish torture by non-state officials or private actors consistently with the convention.
“Therefore, allowing inmates to use mess buckets in the presence of other inmates is a form of torture,” he noted.
He called on the National Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation to do the needful to remedy the hygiene and sanitation systems at the NPC in Grand Gedeh County.
