By: Nyima Sillah
The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission report has found The Gambia prison of notoriety for the cruel inhumane and degrading treatment meted out of prisoners and detainees during the former regime.
According to the report, the former president Yahya A.J.J Jammeh used the prison system to punish his opponents and sent them to his so called “five-star hotel,” the notorious Mile II central prison which he knew to be dirty, damp, mosquito and vermin infested place. Such conditions are equivalent to inhumane and degrading treatment and violation of the prisoners.
The report added: Yahya Jammeh appointed a Director General with no qualification who would thus beholden to him and obligated to carry out his illegal orders. Also, the prison officers were recruited with little or no educational qualification, which made them prone to manipulation. The eligibility criteria were based on ethnic and community consideration, nepotism and ethnicity informed the recruitment and promotion of persons in the prison service.
However, the report further pointed out that the prison service was used as a tool for oppression and formed part of the tentacles of the State control over every aspect of life of Gambians. “Detainees were incarcerated at Mile II Central Prison without due process, and they were not allowed family visits or access to their lawyers.”
“From 1994 to 2016, a special category of prisoners not recognised by law under the classification ‘detainees’ were kept at the security wing of Mile II central prison pursuant to executive directives and on orders of former President Yahya A.J.J Jammeh. They were subjected to all forms of ill-treatment, abuse and striped of all their fundamental human rights,” the report said.
In addition, the commission said detainees were deprived of food, water, clothing, basic sanitation and health care, and this violated their right to the minimum of space, hygiene, religious worship, privacy and security necessary for a humane and dignified existence.
The report added: the ill-treatment, abuse and torture of prisoners and detainees through a range of methods was prevalent and was carried out by non-prison officers such as the Junta members, the Junglers and the State Guards, and by prison officers. These included mock executions, torture and corporal punishment.