Western Bahr el Ghazal state authorities to release inmates

September 4, 2015 (WAU) – The Government of South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state will from Monday release prisoners with minimal cases of crimes in Wau central prison, the state minister for gender and child welfare, Nema Abas disclosed on Friday.

The decision to release the inmates, Abas said, was attributed to the problem of over congestion in the state-owned detention facility.

“The prison is very congested and the situation is that many prisoners are sleeping on the floor. Therefore, the state government has decided to form a committee that would go through such cases with the court over the release of these people,” said the minister

“In prison, there are some people detained there for six months [yet they are] only demanding from them 150, 300 and 500 pounds which should not take a person to [spend] such periods in jail,” she added.

Citizens and non-governmental entities have been invited to witness the event, where 20 people will be released daily effective Monday.

(ST)