NEWS Mr. Acting Director of Prison, Not this Time Again...No More Escapees Posted by Joe Sawan on Jul 16, 2008, 14:55

Decades ago, the officers at the Pademba Road Maximum Security Prisons epitomized professionalism and commitment to the safety, stability and security of Sierra Leone.  The environment in which they worked in was palatable.  As an institution, they had relatively good and competitive sports and football teams.  The late “LOFTY”, Sierra Leone’s national football teams’ premier goal keeper was a product of the officer training corps at the time. There were hardly any reports of prisoners escape. With the passage of time, the prisons department has lost its pre-eminent position regarding the rehabilitation of prisoners. The institution has become a revolving door with hardly any rehabilitation of prisoners taking place.  This is a sad spectacle.

The very fine corps of officers has sadly been infiltrated by an alleged group of misguided wardens whose only commitment is to their own personal enrichment to the detriment of the state. It is this cancer that is supposedly destroying the prisons.

It is also the perception of many Sierra Leoneans that these alleged misguided officers contributed greatly to the many escapes of prisoners.  The escape of the Russians sometime back is definitely one of the greatest mysteries in the history of this country.

At one time, it became an expectation of the public to hear about the escape of prisoners every day a group was taken to court.  The citizens living in the vicinity of the Pademba Road Prisons did not find it amusing.  It was and still is a menace to them.  In light of the above observations, Standard Times is appealing to the Acting Director of Prisons to put modalities in place that will prevent a repetition of what has been the modus operandi at the Pademba Road prisons. Standard Times is aware of the fact that the crew and other personnel of the unidentified plane that made that daring unauthorized landing at the Lungi International airport are at Pademba Road prisons.

Any group that flies around in a plane, filled with approximately 700 kilograms of cocaine cannot be taken lightly. They are connected to the most connected in the world of high finance and mafia.  Their friends are employers and muti millionaires who would not hesitate to spend several millions of dollars to have their men freed and their plane returned to them.  They are extremely dangerous individuals who have seen many lives wasted.  They hardly manifest remorse because it is not part of their psychological make up.

Please Mr. Acting Director of Prison; do not threaten your officers with dismissal if they should foul up again this time.  They should be made to aware that allowing these dangerous individuals to escape will make it possible for them to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.  Perhaps the death penalty would be more appropriate when the harmful effects of the deadly drugs they intended to peddle are taken into consideration in addition to the violation of the territorial integrity of the sovereign state of Sierra Leone.

Please Mr. Showers, reschedule your officers so that only the most capable, committed, dedicated and reliable are on duty now guarding these people.  These individuals are well trained and relatively excellent at playing “mind games”.  They know all the tricks in the book. 

Mr. Acting Director of Prisons, do not hesitate to ask either the Americans or the British for help if your officers are not up to the task of protecting Sierra Leoneans by keeping these men behind bars. You should, as a matter of urgency, ask either the Americans or the British to organize a workshop for your officers on the effects of the drug trade on national development. Standard Times have been reliably informed that prison officers are in the habit of propounding the “VULTURE THEORY” every time either a thievery or escape takes place at Pademba Road Prisons.  In other words, “vultures” are responsible for the menacing things that happen at Pademba Road prisons. 

Mr.Acting Director of Prisons, tell your officers to follow their code of conduct and for them to literally stop insulting the intelligent and rational people of this country. You should remember that you have only been put in an acting capacity. This is your opportunity to prove your mettle by making sure that the crew of the unidentified plane does not escape.  That will ruin your professional career. You should commence to devise and implement some creative and innovative rehabilitation programmes for the prisoners.

Finally, Mr. Prisons Director, you should make the most concerted efforts to keep these dangerous individuals behind bars until their day in court.  There are absolutely no alternatives to this requirement.