Pademba Jail Gets Database
In what has been termed as remarkable development in the Pademba Road Maximum Prison the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) has donated a state of the art database system to help with proper record management at the Prison Yard, in a ceremony held in Freetown.
Chairman of the programme, Assistant Director Sampha Billo Kamara said the gesture by UNIOSIL is more than timely and will bring much professionalism in the management and control of affairs at the Prison. Mr. Kamara told all present that keeping record of dispensations and inmates at the prison is part of international standard practice and that Pademba Road Prison will now join the ranks with other world penitentiaries in keeping up-to-date records of prisoners and prison activities.
Dr. Benedict Sannoh, UNIOSIL Representative said the aim is to reduce the crime rate and at the same help the prison service in their records keeping and management. He remarked that it is obvious that there had been no proper documentation system in the prisons; a situation which he said is not good for an institution like the Prisons Department in a modern world.
Director of Prisons Watch – a civil society organization, Mambu Feika, paid tribute to UNIOSIL for coming to the aid of the Prison Department and also asked government to improve working conditions for Prison Officers as the job they do is not commensurate to the salaries they earn. He described the Prisons Department as an important aspect of the Justice sector, if ignored it might lead to a bad state of affairs.
Minister of Internal Affairs, Ambassador Dauda Kamara, expressed regret about the absence of sister institutions like the police, judiciary and immigration who did not attend such an important occasion directed towards improving the judiciary, justice sector in general and law enforcement in the country.
Director of Prisons, Moses Showers, thanked UNIOSIL for having his institution at heart, an institution he said that has done so much in carrying out its state duties under difficult circumstances and yet still trying to improve the situation. He commended the industry and pro-activeness of his staff since he took over as director, saying a lot of positive changes have been recorded in the past two years.
He promised to put the donated items to good use, asking that more be done to improve the state of the country’s Prisons. Moses Showers lauded efforts made by the Justice Sector Development Programme in helping with a lot of things in complement to government’s effort in the management of the Prisons Service in the country.
The Prison boss remarked that information is power and that the equipment given to the Department will help equip the service in various ways with proper information management and record keeping.
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