Gambia: The Need to Decongest the Prisons

opinion

The Government in particular and the Gambian people at large need to acknowledge that the provisions on fundamental rights and freedoms are not designed to be mere words on paper. They are designed for a purpose. For example, it is stated that a person who is arrested and not released should be informed within three hours why he or she is arrested and should have access to a legal counsel and should have access to visitors. Such a provision is not only designed to protect the prisoner, it also protects the integrity of a state and its justice system.

In short, under normal circumstances a person should be free. Arrest is deprivation of freedom. It is meant to bring a person before the law if there is sufficient evidence to charge him/her for a crime. Arrest is different from abduction only if the person enjoys the freedom to be visited by counsel and family members. The law says that the person should not be under detention for more than 72 hours without being taken before a court. This gives the person protection of law and bars any action which could be deemed as punishment until he or she is tried and convicted of a crime. In short, a person should be presumed innocent until he or she is proven guilty.

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