The Gambia has mooted plans to transfer its notorious Mile Two Central Prison from the outskirts of Banjul to the southwest of the country, if a statement attributed to the state is anything to go by.
According to the statement seen by APA on Saturday, the town of Jambur, 20 km southwest of the Gambian capital has been identified for the new site of the prison which is currently located in the outer limits of Banjul.
The government made a submission to this effect at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council Working Group recently.
The Mile Two Central Prison located along the Banjul-Serrekunda Highway earned notoriety during the rule of former strongman Yahya Jammeh.
His critics and political opponents were jailed in the correctional facility which Jammeh repeatedly dubbed a five-star hotel in sarcastic reference to the inhospitable and squalid conditions in which inmates there were kept.
The penal institution opened by the British colonial government in 1920 served as a torture chamber where some political prisoners met their deaths during the course of Jammeh’s 22-year rule.
His 1994 coup ally Sadibou Hydara who was accused of staging a coup died there while his alleged co-conspirator Sanna Sabally, a former deputy of the junta Jammeh led was also tortured, according to testimonies from The Gambia’s ongoing truth commission.
The nine death row inmates executed in August 2012 to the consternation of the world were kept at the Mile Two Central Prison.
The prison facility was opened for public viewing for the first time in the weeks and months after Jammeh lost power through an election in 2016.
Aside from juvenile and remand wings, the prison houses a courtyard, and recreational facilities such as a volleyball court and space for football matches by prisoners and wardens.
The Gambia’s other prisons are found in Jeshwang, 11km south of Banjul and Jangjangbureh, 234km east of the capital.
WN/as/APA