The National Human Rights Commission on Monday asked the ministry of justice to urged President Adama Barrow to use executive power and pardon convicts in a bid to decongesting the country’s prisons.
The commission recommended “that the Ministry of Justice urges the President to again exercise his powers as per Section 82 of the 1997 Constitution (Prerogative of Mercy) especially towards those convicts who are serving time for offences that are nonviolent or not of a sexual nature”.
According to NHRC, the move would help to assist in curtailing the high rise in COVID-19 cases, and decongest the prisons.
Coronavirus is on a rampage in the country and NHRC clearly concerned about the well-being of the country’s inmates also asked the government to ensure face masks are provided to all “detainees, remanded and convicted prisoners, police officers, prison officers and all those who come into contact with detainees”.
The commission also asked that before people are remanded into custody in the remand wing of any of the three Prisons, they are tested for COVID-19.
