ZWEDRU, Grand Gedeh – The Zwedru Magisterial Court has released seven pre-trial detainees from the Zwedru Central Prison in order to ease congestion, as the nation fights the Coronavirus pandemic.

Making the disclosure over the weekend in an interview with a team of journalists, the prison’s director, Flomo Johnson, said those released were charged with a range of offenses, from theft of property to assault and other minor offenses. He said he had engaged the county attorney and judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court to secure more releases to further decongest the facility.

“The discussion didn’t focus on people that committed capital offenses such as rape, armed robbery, murder,” Flomo assured the public, adding that many of the released prisoners had been detained for over five months, awaiting court trial.

Flomo said he had discussed with the county attorney the need to avoid new admissions at the prison during the pandemic except for capital offenses.

Besides decongesting the prison, Flomo said COVID-19 preventive measures were also being implemented at the prison. For now, he said all the inmates and staff were in good health. “We recently received two handwashing buckets from Hon. Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, representative for electoral district #1 in Grand Gedeh County through the Zwedru City Corporation, while four were given by our Monrovia office,” he noted.

Flomo said there were currently restrictions on the number of visitors coming to the facility. Additionally, all visitors are required to wash their hands and their temperatures are taken before they gain entrance to the facility.

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