By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
The Director General of Juba Central Prison Henry Kuany yesterday accused the Police of failure to investigate cases of the remand during the required period leading to overcrowding of the Prison.
“The issue of delay in investigation, I would to say it is from the police because it’s the police who investigate cases, currently we have around 2,847 inmates,” Kuany said.
However, Brig Gen. James Dak, the deputy police spokesperson objected to the claim saying that prison overcrowding is a crosscutting issue.
Dak told No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, that the issue of remand delay is sometimes caused by failure to follow up, from both the police and the relatives of the inmates.
“Cases management… when that person is taken in they are supposed to be recorded but you find out that the investigator is not following up after he has remanded the suspect and also the relative of the accused is also supposed to follow-up so its crosscutting issue,” he explained.
The deputy police spokesperson stated that the duration that a suspect is on remand is supposed to take less than six months only and not more.
“The issue is that we have a lot of cases that are on remand, and this is done through a recommendation from public persecutor, and you cannot be remanded over six months, the maximum period of a remand cannot go over six months,” he lamented.
Brig. Gen. Dak underlined that, “remand is taking long because it’s a chain issue, you have judiciary, Justice and the law enforcement which is the police; the normal police and you have the inmate police, when the cases are on trial the suspect becomes an accused and when convicted and sent to prison, he/she will have all the services.
He further said if somebody’s case who is on remand is not finished and is not being followed up, the investigator will write recommendation to the persecutor and the persecutor will remand him or her until the investigation is finished.
Causes letting to crimes
The Juba Central prison D.G noted that economic situation within the Country have also contributed to the prison overcrowding.
“This is what causes crimes, like shop being broken, Torontos snatching bags from women and girls, all these made the Prison overcrowded,”
He stressed that if the court start trying the cases and the police start the investigation then that can reduce the number of inmates overwhelming the prison.
Kuany disclosed that, “Dinka and Nuer are the majority in prison”, saying “they are the ones that have overcrowded the prison, while the Equatorians are few since they respect laws,”
“Juba is growing and population has increased, and hunger is hard, someone who doesn’t have goes and steal, including the strong one who reached as far as breaking into people’s houses, so if the police catch them they are brought to the prison,” Kuany narrated.
Solution
James Dak, the deputy police spokesperson stated that there was recommendation made on how to settle the prison overcrowding.
“There were recommendations made in regards to the overcrowding issue but it requires resources, which is the issue because the resources available are very limited and sometimes go to security,” he cited.