LIBERIA – The National Palace of Corrections In Grand Gedeh County, which is Liberia’s maximum prison, is currently facing an acute shortage of food, basically rice.
This troubling situation has existed for over a week now and has drawn the attention and concerns of citizens and Rights Organizations.
Based on the prevailing situations at the prison, the local authorities headed by Paul T. Neeor, as acting Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County, has placed SOS calls through local media for urgent attention and intervention.
In answer to this call, community-based organizations have begun providing initial support in kind.
The institutions include the United Family For Reconstructions (UFAR) and the EURO Logging Company, to name a few.
The five bags of 25kg of rice were turned over to the county authorities and were subsequently presented to the Prison by Mr. Neeor, while a bag of 25kg bag of rice from UFAR was presented by Alex Yonly respectively.
Receiving the food from the local authorities, the Director of the National Palace of Corrections, Flomo Johnson, commended the donors for responding in time to the needs of the jail.
According to him, the food shortage at the facilities has negatively affected activities in the past few days, adding that this has raised the anger and misconduct in the over 250 inmates at the prison.
“Over five inmates forcefully escaped on Friday of last week, but were rearrested and returned to the cells,” Johnson disclosed.
He then called on well-meaning Liberians to come to the aid of the inmates.
Meanwhile, the Joint Security has rearrested one of the alleged escapees from the National Palace of Corrections In Grand Gedeh County.
The rearrested escapee was identified as Moses Mlama, who was grabbed after several hours of search for six inmates that escaped from the National Palace of Corrections through a jailbreak.
He was seen in the Garloville community about two kilometers away from the Zwedru Central Prison.
According to information provided by Jerome Tarpeh, Solicitor at the Zwedru City Majesterial Court, six inmates, including Moses Mlama, allegedly jumped over the fence of the prison on the morning of Friday, October 28, 2022, and ran into the bushes.
The six are all convicts.
However, upon getting the information, he alerted the joint security who promptly responded to the situation.
Tarpeh noted that efforts are being made to ensure that the rest of the escapees are rearrested accordingly.
Mlama has since been returned to the prison cells to continue serving his prison term.
It can be recalled during the May Term of Court that Moses Mlama was adjudged guilty for the murder of a motorcyclist identified as Modeshious Nyema in Pleebo, Maryland County.
He was sentenced to a 45-year jail term, which he is presently serving, by Judge George S. Wiles, Resident Judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit Court in Grand Gedeh County. LINA