By Fatmata Bundu in Freetown
232News
Susan Coker, Director of Support Sierra Leone Correctional Service (SLCS) has informed the Parliamentary Committee on Planning and Economic Development that management has ensured that inmates are kept safe despite their challenges.
She said that their mandate is to make society safe by keeping those threatening the peace of citizens off the streets while serving their sentences.
Madam Coker added that it is their duty to provide food and other services but that currently they are constrained to meet.ing that responsibility due to low and untimely disbursement of funds.
According to her, they are owing their suppliers huge sum of money and that some of them are now decided to uphold their services, calling on the government to look into that as soon as possible.
She maintained that the core function of the service is to rehabilitate prisoners but funds are not available to provide recreational facilities or working tools.
Deputy Director General of SLCS, Col. David Ngaujah spoke on overcrowding, saying the facility (Pademba Road Prison) is now hosting more inmates than what it was created for.
He stated that they lack office space as the one they are currently occupying is not only inadequate but not fit for administrative purposes.
Col. Ngaujah added that they now owed billions of Leones to rice and flour suppliers.
He noted that he is trying to inculcate the RSLAF agriculture model though they did not have the tools for inmates to eat what they plant.
Deputy Director General concluded that they have staff capacity problem, lack of infrastructure nationwide, advocating to the Committee to help them to press the right buttons to address their challenges.
According to the chairman of the Committee on Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Musa Fofanah in 2019, the government developed the Medium-Term National Development Plan for five years and divided it into clusters in which SLCS is an integral part.
He said the engagement was to look at their challenges, noting that the report would encapsulate details of their findings.
