LAST Sunday May 2, three armed robbers who were serving their jail sentences at the Sekondi Prison broke jail and made away with seven G3 rifles and ammunition. The three fugitives managed to escape with an outside help when a friend who had visited them helped them escape.
IN FACT we at Today were very worried when the news broke out that the fugitives had managed to escape. But, after barely 24 hours of breaking jail, reports indicate that two of the daring fugitives have been re-arrested.
THIS was as a result of a joint/police military operation in Ituma Estate in the Shama District when the robbers attempted to rob residents of this area. It was in their attempt to rob again that saw two of them busted again by the security agencies.
THE two who were re-arrested were Ebenezer Okoley Tetteh and Raphael Laweh who were jailed 40 and 60 years respectively by the Sekondi Circuit High Court recently. Three of the fugitives, however, managed to escape and currently being hunted for by the security personnel.
IT is obvious that there were some security lapses at Sekondi prison facility which contributed to the escape of the prisoners. This followed preliminary investigations which showed security lapses on the part of prison authorities.
REPORTS indicated that at the time of the incident only four prison officers were on duty. And more importantly, the armoury guard at the time of the jail break was not chained through the trigger-guard as was require by the rules of every armoury.
ALL over the world prison facilities are places were security is expected to be tight. Therefore, we cannot understand why a prison like the Sekondi Prison will only have four prison officers at a point in time. We believe that was a breach in security that must not be countenanced by prison facilities.
INDEED, the consequence of that security lapse is what resulted in the initial escape of the five prisoners. We think that the prison authorities at Sekondi prison needs to do a rethink of how they provide security at their facility.
TO all intents and purposes, we think it is highly unacceptable for a maximum prison facility like the Sekondi prison to have four prison officers at a time. It is our hope that what happened at the Sekondi prison will be a wake-up call to the prison authorities not to take chances next time.
PRISON facilities in the country must be guided by the fact that they harbour hardened criminals who are dangerous to society and therefore giving them chances to think that they can escape will not augur well for us as a people.
HENCEFORTH, the paper urges our prisons to be firm and resolute when dealing with criminals in their custody.