500 inmates unlawfully detained in Lakes state

September 7, 2015 (RUMBEK) – Authorities in South Sudan’s Lakes state are in the spotlight for unlawfully holding over 500 inmates at a correctional facility in Rumbek.

Most of the detainees, mainly adult and underage children, were reportedly arrested on orders of senior government officials over tramped up charges.

Random arrests are commonly carried out by people with impunity in Lakes state.

According to a prison warden who requested to remain anonymous, “most of those arrested have spent seven months and others almost closing a year inside this jail,”.

“They are being arrested by those senior officials and security operators, but they don’t provide charges against those arrested,” added the official

Lakes state security advisor, Marial Amuom Malek, said that state administration would investigate those unlawful arrests in Rumbek’s main correctional prison.

Malek acknowledged the random arrests, but said steps were underway for prison reforms.

There are 43 children and 12 women detained as food scarcity remains a major problem.

“We are asking South Sudan’s judiciary to speed up with those cases so that everyone detained would know who is wrong or who is not wrong,” stressed Malek.

(ST)