The Department of Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation at the Ministry of Justice has concluded a three-day Correction Service Act Validation agenda aimed at making the BCR Act an Autonomous Agency.
The evaluation which started on Monday brought together correctors and partners to finalize the draft Correction Service Act. According to the Assistant Minister for Correction at the Department of Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation, Eddie Tarawali, the process is being hugely sponsored by United Nations Development Program( UNDP) and other local and international partners.
Minister Tarawali noted that the Act when completed will be sent to the National Legislature for passage into law as an autonomous agency. He said the President of Liberia is fully supporting the Act that is in the interest of all prisoners.
The Assistant Minister made the statement on Friday, July 22, 2022, at the close of the validation exercise in Monrovia.
He noted that they are only waiting to complete the technical details of the document and have it submitted to the Attorney General, Frank Musa Dean for technical review and other processes before being taken to the National Legislature for passage.
“We believe this process will come to reality by making DRC an autonomous agency. When this act is passed into law by our National Legislature, it will give it a big boost in smooth operations. Again, we are not alone in this advocacy; our partners who saw the need for DRC to be autonomous have joined us in the process, Minister Talawali mentioned”.
Assistant Minister Eddie Tarawali also called for budgetary increment for the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. According to him, they want to carry on a massive renovation of all prison centers across the country. Minister Tarawali at the same pleads that the Presidential proclamation of prisoners affects every prison center across the country.
He acknowledged that inmates have acquired vocational education in several disciplines over the years through the help of their partners. He named carpentry, tailoring, soap making, and counseling, among others.
“We are helping to rehabilitate prisoners so as to be useful in society after serving their times. Today, we can assure you of trained mechanics from our prison center who can repair vehicles. Having budgetary increments for the department of correction and rehabilitation will help to renovate the prison centers.” Minister Tarawali said.
He added that the Monrovia Central Prison was built for only 350 inmates, but today, it hosts over 1500 inmates which is totally against the human rights law, Minster Tarawali narrated.
” It is on this basis, that we are calling for the relocation of the Monrovia Central Prison to Cheeseman. We want to build a prison industry there in Cheesemanbruge to impact more vocational knowledge in them, he asserted”.
Reported by: Sylvester Tamba-stamba
