Courts urged to expedite clearance of backlog to reduce prison overcrowding

JUBA – The Deputy Director of South Sudan Juba Central Prison, Major Gen. Bak Anyar Longor, has called on the judiciary to expedite clearing of all backlog cases to reduce overcrowding in the prisons.

Longar urged the Judiciary to clear the backlogged cases in order to improve conditions of Juba Central Prison which is poor and overcrowded.

“The prison is congested and overcrowded, we have 2,400 inmates inside the prison and this is a challenge to the leadership of the prison to have that huge number of inmates,” Longar told journalists during release of 7 inmates in Juba on Tuesday

Longar said about 2,500 inmates are being held in Juba Central Prison, even though it was built to accommodate a maximum of 300 to 500 people.

“The biggest challenge we are facing here is overcrowding. This prison was built with capacity to accommodate 300 to 500 inmates but it has now reach 2, 000,” Longar said.

Longar said the issue of overcrowding can be resolved only if the judiciary speed up clearing thousands of backlogged cases in various courts.

“The government always has a court and the court should speed up their cases and those who are still in prison should be released if found not guilty and if they are guilty, they should be convicted to serve their sentence in prison,” he said.

The senior prison official said a lot of inmates continue to be held in Juba Central Prisons for months or years without trial.

“They have committed different crimes ranging from theft, alcohol and even murder. There are those who have been convicted for committing murder. Those who are found not guilty should be release and this is one way to reduce the overcrowding in the prison,” he said.