Kakata Jailbreak Renews Concerns Over Enduring Challenges at Prison Facilities

Monrovia, Liberia: Challenges facing prison centers in Liberia, especially facilities outside Monrovia, are drawing serious attention following the recent jailbreak at the Kakata Central Prison in Margibi County.

It remains unclear how the inmates broke jail and escaped. About 100 inmates were said to have been involved. The Liberia National Police has since launched a search operation, with local authorities helping to recover a few, while many remain on the run.

Meanwhile, a humanitarian group, Prison Fellowship Liberia, has attributed limited correctional officers and inadequate equipment to key factors contributing to jailbreaks at prison centers.

The organization’s Country Director, Rev. Francis Kollie, added that the overcrowding of some prison centers and the prolonged detention of suspects also form part of the reasons that undermine security at correctional facilities.

Further speaking speaking on the matter in a news conference, Rev. Kollie called on the government to treat challenges at prison centers as part of broader security and justice reform efforts.

He wants the national government to increase the number of correctional officers across prison centers and provide improved logistical and financial support.

The Prison Fellowship Liberia official further urged the government to ensure that prison facilities are human-friendly, rather than environments that undermine inmates’ safety.

“So we need to improve our prison conditions. I have come to the door of the government from the president down. I would say let’s make our prisons a better place, you know why, because one day you could be there,” Rev. Kollie said.

However, Rev. Francis Kollie announced that Prison Fellowship Liberia is seeking assistance from the Brazilian government to help improve Liberia’s prison system.

The Prison Fellowship Liberia Country Director noted that the engagement with Brazil would focus particularly on strengthening rehabilitation programs for inmates.

He explained that the proposed partnership would provide systems and approaches that Liberian justice officials could learn from and replicate locally.

“One of the things that the program we’re going to do in Brazil, we’re going to be doing, is to learn how to do more aggressive rehabilitation programs for our prisoners in our prison system".

"They are going to provide systems, they’re going to put into place systems that ministers of justice will learn from, we will learn from, that we can replicate in our country to improve our justice system,” he said.