“We are working on relocating Pademba Road Prisons”-Deputy Minister

Politics

Government is currently working on a project to relocate the Central Prisons Pademba Road to another location. This was disclosed yesterday by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Sheka Tarawallie at the British Council hall while launching the Correctional Services (Prisons) website. The Deputy Minister said that already his Ministry was now in discussion with an Israeli Group for the relocation so that the prisons will meet international standards. Our present Central Prisons was built for just 300 inmates but now houses over 1000 and so cannot meet international standards. He also observed that the condition of service of the prison officers was very poor compared to other services and promised that his Ministry will discuss with Government on how this can be rectified. He deplored the situation in which prison officers get a salary of Le275, 000 while the same lower cadre in the other services get Le400,000 and the Director of Prisons is on level 11 and his counterpart in the Fire service is on level 14. “Prison officers must go home with good pay”, he declared. Before launching the website, Sheka Tarawallie said that it will also help to bring the prison service to the public which in turn may help them to get more assistance and noted that training and more training should be provided for the prison officers. He also agreed with the Director of Prisons that there must be security in the prisons and this must be given priority. The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Theo Nicol also revealed that the Fibre Optic will be commissioned on February 20 as part of the President’s inauguration and was happy that the prisons has joined the ICT club which will expose them to the World and make life easier for themselves and the prisoners. He encouraged the Prisons to move with the times and to ensure that all relevant information is updated on the web. Theo Nicol also promised full co-operation by his Ministry in ensuring that the website runs properly. In his statement, The Director of Prisons Sanpha Bilo Kamara spoke of how he had to make a choice between his interest and that of the nation when his house was demolished for the Hillside Road behind the Pademba Road Prisons and he decided to donate some of the materials from his house for the Prisons school. He praised the German Embassy and the Nigerian High Commission who came to their aid with financial assistance to build the school. He also praised ARTSL for their assistance towards the website and the Juvenile Education Survival Programme (JESP). He disclosed that he received his letter of appointment on February 12 this year as Director of Prisons and said that the institution will soon be transformed into the Sierra Leone Correctional Service. “In the future, the institution will change lives through correctional procedures and livelihood methodological approach.

Fill the forms below to register

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.