By Binta Jaiteh
The management of the Gambia Prison Services (GPS) debunked the report of the Office of the Ombudsman, which accused two wardens of Mile II of beating and sexually harassing inmates.
“The Gambia Prison Service indicated that the ‘2021 Annual Activity Report of office of the Ombudsman to the Parliament committee on Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC)’ has made numerous unfounded claims ranging from harassment of prisoners, beatings, lack of medications, feeding among others,” GPS stated in a rebuttal report shared with this medium.
According to GPS, in order to avoid ill-informed conclusions by well-meaning Gambians, the management wishes to set the record straight and clarify some of the unsubstantiated allegations mentioned in the said report.
The management pointed out that, on the issue of feeding as reported, the management emphatically made it clear that the government of The Gambia was more than committed to providing enough feedings for the inmates at the prison. Following the change of the government in 2016, the government of The Gambia conducted an assessment of the country’s prisons with the desire of addressing some of the key issues they were encountering. Providing good meals for the prisoners was among the issues highlighted.
“We can clearly say that since then, the yearly budget for the prisoners feeding alone has significantly improved. In fact, to set the record straight, the government of The Gambia has increased the budget for prisoners feeding from 27 million dalasi in 2023 to 47 million dalasi in 2024. This clearly demonstrates that the current government under the leadership of President Barrow is committed to addressing the challenges the prison services are encountering,” the report disclosed. The management vowed not to allow any inmates to be subjected to any form of harassment, talk less of beatings. “Beatings of prisoners have never happened and it will never happen under this current administration and certainly not in this current government.”
The report further stated that the senior management of the prison aside their continued routine to the prisons, do convene meetings at the prison administration building. Top among the issues discussed during such convergence, is about the welfare and condition of the prisoners. “Almost in all of these meetings, the director general of the Prison do strongly emphasized the need for the prisoners’ rights and dignity to be respected at all times.”
However, on the issue of “strip searching” which is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, “We want to clarify that despite the fact that these are accepted norms everywhere in the world, but in the Gambia prisons, we ensure that inmates are not thoroughly subjected to these practice.”“When inmates are brought to the prison, we ensure that they are searched in order to ensure that they don’t get in the prison with any object or any other things. Even those officers that do administer these searches are always advised to do so with utmost respect to the individuals,” the report emphasized.
To conclude, the management of the prison reiterated that it would continue to do its best in ensuring prisoners’ rights, dignity were respected at all times. “We will continue to provide that enabling environment for them. Additionally, we will continue to work with all respected public and private institutions in the country namely; the Office of the Ombudsman, National Human Right Commission among others all geared towards nation building.”