By Adama Makasuba
A prison officer has called on Barrow’s administration to upgrade the standard of prisons across the country noted that prisons and its officers have been neglected for too long.
ASP Jombo Jallow made this call at the end of his testimony at Truth, Reconciliation and Reapportions Commission.
“I am appealing to the government, we at the prisons are tired. The government doesn’t consider us, it seems the government has turned its back on us,” he said.
“We don’t have office; these offices were built since the colonial days. The cells that were built in colonial days have never changed, they remained the same cells.”
“We are appealing that the government should help and do something about the prisons, we have suffered and we have heard so many things said about us,” he added.
According to him, their profession is risky because we are staying with prisoners who are in their displeased destination, some are on death sentences, some are on life sentences, some are foreigners and these are the people whom we work and go out with.”
He said the worst part of the job is that they take prisoners to bush with empty hands without gun, knife to fetch firewood while prisoners will hold cutlasses and axes. And when they are tired, they will hand over the axes or cutlasses to the officers. This he said their lives are in danger because those prisoners could kill them there and escape into Casamance because they go closer to the border sometimes.
Among their problems he pointed out includes inadequate mobility.
He however called for construction of more prisons, saying “There are police stations, and magistrates all over but there is no prison. I am appealing to the government to come up with more prisons – yes, I know nobody is happy with prisons.”
“When you come to the prisons, the remand is full, Janjangbureh is full. And if you look at The Gambia today, we have only three prisons -and these prisons are: Mile II Jeshwang, Janjangbureh. How many stations surround it and how many Court houses surround it? From Kalagi to Kartong all bring people to Mile Two – and they come with warrant and you dare not to say the prison is full to capacity. Sometimes the prisoners goes up to one thousand or nine-hundred inmates- when the prison was built Gambia’s population was not up to the level it is today,” he added.
ASP Jallow’s becomes fourth prison officers to appear before TRRC to give testimony on the prison conditions.
