Freetown Central Prison, commonly known as Pademba Road Prison, is a prison on Pademba Road in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The prison was built to house 220 prisoners in the pre-independence era and now holds around 2,000 prisoners. Many prisoners were subject to prolonged stays in holding cells because of a massive backlog in court cases.
Formal incarceration resulting from criminal offences in Sierra Leone began in 1787. At that time, abandoned slave ships were used as makeshift prisons. [1] The first purpose built prison building in the country was built in Freetown, at the location of the current State House, the official residence and principal workplace of the President of Sierra Leone. [1] Some years later, the prison was moved to a new location in the city, which is currently the location of the Connaught Hospital. [1]
The present Freetown Central Prison, located on Pademba Road, was founded on 14 March 1914, by the British colonial authorities. [1]
In 2010, a number of high security prisoners, including those convicted of murder and armed robbery, escaped from the prison, precipitating a manhunt. [2] Prison officers claimed an official figure of 19 escapees, although some eye witnesses claimed the number was 30. [2] The escapees were armed with a pistol, which they fired close to the prison's main gate, causing the guards to flee. They then escaped through the main gate, during the day. [2] National director of jails, Moses Showers, was sacked following the break out and 18 people, including prison officers, were arrested. [2]
In 2013, with the prison population sitting at over 1000, against a design capacity of just 300 inmates, the government initiated proposals to relocate it. [3]
HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. The prison is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a Liberian former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003 as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War and growing international pressure.
Foday Saybana Sankoh was the founder of the Sierra Leone rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which was supported by Charles Taylor-led NPFL in the 11-year-long Sierra Leone Civil War, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. An estimated 50,000 people were killed during the war, and over 500,000 people were displaced in neighboring countries.
Major Johnny Paul Koroma was a Sierra Leonean military officer who was the head of state of Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998.
HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997.
Brigadier David Lansana was the first prominent Sierra Leonean in the Sierra Leone Military during the colonial era. After Sierra Leone gained independence, he served as Military Attaché to the United States.
Colonel Yahya Kanu Kanu was a loyalist to president Joseph Saidu Momoh. He was first reported by Reuters to have led the coup, but that same day he went onto the BBC's Focus on Africa to deny that role, claiming instead that he was attempting to negotiate with the mutineers. He was imprisoned by Valentine Strasser, who eventually took power in the coup. Kanu was later executed by Valentine Strasser, Solomon Musa, Maada Bio and Idriss Kamara on a beach near Freetown, after being accused of organizing a counter-coup with All People's Congress supporter Bambay Kamara. The pair were at the time interred in the Pademba Road jail in Freetown.
Solomon Anthony James Musa, also known as SAJ Musa, was an important military and political figure in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
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Angelo Fusco is a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a Special Air Service (SAS) officer in 1980.
Paul "Dingus" Magee is a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a member of the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1980. After serving a prison sentence in the Republic of Ireland, Magee fled to England where he was imprisoned after killing a policeman in 1992. He was repatriated to the Republic of Ireland as part of the Northern Ireland peace process before being released from prison in 1999, and subsequently avoided extradition back to Northern Ireland to serve his sentence for killing the member of the SAS.
Kandahar Central Jail, also known as Sarpuza Prison or Sarposa Prison, is a minimum security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It has been historically used for the incarceration of common criminals of Kandahar Province. In the last two decades, the facility has also been used to hold up Taliban and other insurgents. The name "Sarpuza" is a historical neighborhood in the city of Kandahar. As of 2017, the prison has approximately 1,900 inmates, and its warden is Col. Abdul Wali Hesarak.
The Clovis, New Mexico jail break refers to an August 24, 2008 jail escape from the Curry County Adult Detention Center.
Colonel Kahota M.S. Dumbuya commonly known as K.M.S. Dumbuya was a senior military officer in the Sierra Leone Armed Forces. K.M.S Dumbua was the late husband of the religious Sierra Leonean evangelist preacher Mammy Dumbuya.
A prison break is an unlawful act under Nigerian law, of a prisoner forcing their way out of a prison. It can also be described as attacks on the Nigerian Prisons Services by terrorists such as Boko Haram and armed robbers in which many prisoners are released. Often, when this occurs effort are made by the Nigerian Prisons Services in conjunction with security agency to rearrest the escapee and return them to the prison and this may result in the extension of their jail term. Prison break in Nigeria may be attributed to corruption, poor funding of the prison services, poor prison facilities, inadequate security features such as CCTV, motion sensors, high wall made up of barbed wire and sometimes electric fencing of the wall.
Richard William Matt was an American murderer known for several prison escapes, most notably the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape.
On 31 October 2016, eight undertrial prisoners of Bhopal Central Jail were killed in an encounter. They had allegedly escaped from the high security prison during the night. The prisoners were suspected terrorists of the Students' Islamic Movement of India.
Capital punishment has been abolished in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone abolished capital punishment in July 2021 following a decision by the nation's Parliament.