South Sudanese Christians usher in the New Year in Australia. [© Barchoch Tut]
By Juma John Stephen
JUBA, 03 January 2009 (Gurtong) – He told Gurtong in Juba last week that the new project will ensure no further breaks by prisoners as happened in 2008.
“There are plans to have a better prison. In 2008, 11 prisoners escaped from the prison and have not been tracked up to now”, Batali said.
“The problem is that we really do not have a prison in Kajo-Keji. What we have are grass thatched houses where dangerous criminals who have committed capital crime are confined”, he added.
He said among the 11 who escaped were three criminals who had slaughtered an innocent woman who was uprooting cassava in her own farm simply because she had been married to a man whom they accused of poisoning some people.
“So people who commit capital crime like this could have been kept in a stronger cell”, he lamented.
The Commissioner explained that some of the inmates who did not escape told the authorities that the person who masterminded the prison break was a former policeman who had been imprisoned for seven years for raping a woman.
“It is so sad that the said policeman raped a woman who had been arrested for not having paid a debt she had incurred and the policeman took advantage to rape her in prison”, he said.
He also urged the people of Kajo Keji County to vote wisely in the forthcoming general elections and asked candidates who will be campaigning to steer clear of personal attacks but to discuss issues.