Col. Kromah said prison facilities in Monrovia are incapable of hosting all of those awaiting trial. The new standards, known as the Luanda Guidelines adopted deals with the conditions of arrest, Police custody, and pretrial detention in Africa. They were adopted by the commission out of the concern for the impact of prison overcrowding and the consequences of arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention in Africa. As part of the commission’s effort to highlight this issue, April 25 has now been declared Africa Pretrial Detention Day. Pre-trial detention in accordance with relevant legislation, the Liberian Government must take all necessary steps to prevent excessive pre-trial detention; that is, any detention which surpasses the six-month time limit.

Source: Front Page Africa April 26, 2017 02:03 UTC