Monrovia, Liberia — -Prison Fellowship Liberia recommends to GoL
An advocacy group, Prison Fellowship Liberia, is calling on the government to reintroduce a parole board to help reduce the overcrowding of prisons across the country.
The Country Director for Prison Fellowship Liberia is appealing to the Liberian government to reintroduce the parole board to de-congest prisons across the country.
Reverend Francis Kollie, in an interview with reporters at the weekend, said the parole board is part of the justice system under the government's ARREST agenda.
He calls for training more defense counsels to meet the growing number of pre-trial detainees in prisons.
According to him, many defense counsels have transformed to other areas of the legal system, while some have abandoned the court for lucrative jobs.
The renowned criminal justice practitioner also recommends to Liberia's Chief Justice, Her Honor Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, for digitization of court documents within the Judiciary to help preserve court records and fast-tracking cases that have overstayed on various courts' dockets, which have allegedly denied pre-trial detainees from having access to timely and impartial trial in a court of competent jurisdiction.
Prison Fellowship is the most extensive network of social actors working in criminal justice. It is Liberia's famous rights-based nonprofit organization, serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform.
Accurate record-keeping is one of the critical challenges confronting courts operating in all parts of Liberia because their record-keeping methods have not been modernized but rather outdated, a 2022 survey finding indicates.
However, Reverend Kollie elaborated that the entire world is running very fast due to the quality of technology. As such, judicial authorities in Liberia need to prioritize the universal rights of pre-trial detainees to have fair access to a speedy trial and the right to be heard and represented in court by a lawyer who will be ready to legally challenge the accusation levied against them by a prosecutorial team.
He says the recommendation for digitizing the Judiciary branch, when implemented by the Supreme Court of Liberia, will create easier access to court documents--whether retrieving case files or finding public records. Digitization improves a court's capability to offer individuals access to the information they need, thus promoting transparency and public trust in the criminal justice system.
He explains that digitization, which is a process of converting physical records into digital format through scanning or digitalization and the conversion of text-based documents, photographs, sound, and video into digital formats- will effectively help Liberia's judicial system to reduce overcrowding of cases on the dockets and prolong the detention of pre-trial detainees whose human rights have been continuously infringed upon years after years.
"Court workers such as Sheriffs, Bailiffs, Clerks of court, Judges and others need to be frequently trained by the Judiciary Branch of Liberia to enable them to become legally effective, impartial and operational for the prioritization of the welfare of pre-trial detainees, who are currently overcrowded at the Monrovia Central Prison and other correction centers in Liberia," he laments.
Rev. Kollie notes that the welfare of pre-trial detainees needs to be continuously prioritized by the three branches of the Liberian government, with practical budgetary support to help make prison centers across the country functional and human rights-friendly.
Prison Fellowship Liberia has sponsored over 500 children of prisoners in various public and private high schools here because access to education is a universal right for all humans.
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"The 55th Legislature needs to empower the Ministry of Justice with attractive budgetary support to hire dozens of Public Defenders who are well-trained to represent the legal interest of pre-trial detainees, who are presently in various prisons in all parts of Liberia," the P.F. Executive Director underscores.
At the same time, he commends the Boakai-Koung administration for establishing the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court, describing it as very timely for allowing war victims to have access to justice.
He discloses that a huge consignment of medicinal products and equipment is anticipated to arrive in Liberia this year to help seek the welfare of pre-trial detainees in Montserrado County and other parts of the country.
"Prison Fellowship-Liberia's presence in the criminal justice sector of Liberia is making a meaningful impact because through our free legal clinic, we have greatly helped hundreds of pre-trial detainees to have speedy access to justice", he says.
