Part 1″
By Bai Santigie Kanu
On April 29, 2020, a deadly riot erupted at the Pademba Road Correctional Centre in central Freetown. Inmates protested against deteriorating conditions, the denial of legal representation, and the suspension of court sittings due to COVID-19. At the time of the incident, the prison housed over 1,000 inmates in a facility built for 324 inmates, operating at more than 400% capacity and 40% understaffed. The riot began around 7:30 a.m. and ended by 11:00 a.m., during which inmates clashed among rival groups, damaged property, and took prison officers hostage. Security forces, including military and police personnel and members of the presidential guard, responded with lethal force by using tear gas initially, and later, live ammunition to regain control of the prison yard, leaving many prisoners and prison officers dead. According to official situation reports, 31 people died, including 12 inmates from gunshot wounds, 16 from brute force trauma, and 1 correctional officer.
However, in contrast to the skewed situational reports by the Sierra Leone Police and the Sierra Leone Correctional Centre investigative reports, investigative and eyewitness accounts have revealed that more than three hundred (300) unarmed prisoners were shot dead. Victims of the deadly incident revealed that the security forces, including members of the presidential guard from the state lodge, responded with lethal force, causing bloodshed as hundreds of unarmed protesting prisoners were intensely shot at close range. According to a leaked audio from inmates to relatives during the incident, revealed that a special command came from outside, directing the presidential guards, military, and members of the Operation Support Division (OSD), the armed unit of the Sierra Leone police, to shoot at the protesters with brute force in a bid to suppress the prost. Some minutes later, the military, police, and the presidential guards intensified firing at the unarmed and defenseless prisoners to quell the protest in the prison yard, the audio revealed. Our news analysis noted that the joint force command from the military, the police, and the presidential guard is responsible for the high number of casualties. The government of Sierra Leone did not want the international community to know about it, hence the suppression of evidence. Dead bodies were transported at night and buried in unmarked graves outside Freetown.
The Sierra Leone Police collaborated with correctional officers and military units to suppress the uprising. However, civil society organizations and rights groups, as militarized and excessive force was used, criticized the response. Witness accounts and media reports noted that tear gas and live bullets were deployed, even in circumstances where non-lethal methods may have sufficed. Amnesty International emphasized the lack of early warning mechanisms and riot-control preparedness as contributing factors to the scale of fatalities.
According to confidential sources within the Vice President’s office, it was revealed that Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh was aware of the massacre based on how the report was prepared. The Vice President of Sierra Leone serves as the head of the Sierra Leone Police Council, with the Inspector General and the entire police force accountable to him. Consequently, the police, military, presidential guards, and SLPP party gangs operated under the direct command of Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh during the shooting in the prison yard. An internal document from the office of the Vice President said that the security forces were taking direct commands from the Vice President to suppress the protest. Eyewitnesses reported to this medium that the Presidential Guards spoke the Mende language throughout the massacre, instructing their tribesmen in prison to hide in safe areas, leaving behind those who could not understand Mende. As a result, the killings were carried out on a regional, tribal, and political basis.
A leaked audio recording from Fatmata Sawaneh, the former SLPP Women’s leader and current Sierra Leonean deputy ambassador to Guinea, allegedly named government officials who were present at the Pademba Road Correctional Centre on the morning before the protest and shooting on April 29, 2020. Those named included former Deputy Internal Affairs Minister, Lahai Lawrence Leemah, the then Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Sovula, the Women’s Leader of the SLPP Party (retired military personnel), the Officer in Charge of Operations of the Presidential Guards, and SLPP thug Leader, Austin Johnny. Eyewitness Mohamed Conteh, who has since been released from prison, stated that many of the bodies were transported from the prison yard at night. The government seized all the bodies and buried them in unmarked mass graves to prevent the display of too many corpses for public viewing and to obstruct head counts of the deceased, which could have sparked further criticism and international condemnation. It was also reported that the government bribed some relatives of the deceased to participate in a government-led public burial.
According to a prison officer, nicknamed “John White”, he revealed to this medium that he saw more than 200 dead bodies on the floor inside the prison yard immediately after security forces quelled the riot. He continued that the inmates who led the protest were shot dead, and the remaining ones were brutally beaten to a pulp by members of the presidential guard, military men, and the police. Among the riot leaders killed was Tani Bola, a notorious gang leader from the Fourah community in the east end of Freetown. John White revealed that Tani Bola was shot dead by a member of the presidential guard. John also revealed that Tani Bola and his gang members were perceived to be members of the main opposition, the APC party, and the prison riot was a perfect time for Tani Bola and his gang to be eliminated.
In a telephone interview with this medium, Alie Turay, a Connaught Hospital mortuary attendant, confirmed that they received more than 200 dead bodies from the Pademba Road prison than the figure (31 corpses) mentioned in the Sierra Leone police and prison service situational report. Turay emphasized that the dead bodies were transported to the mortuary at night in army and police vehicles. He said that the officially recognized corpses (31) were kept inside the mortuary and that the rest were kept in containers outside the mortuary. Turay furthered that, on government directives and supervision, dead bodies were conveyed to unknown places outside Freetown and buried in unmarked mass graves. Turay said the corpses were not given dignified burial but rather dumped in unidentified mass graves.
The incident at Pademba Road Correctional Centre sent shockwaves across the country and drew international condemnation. Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office called for independent inquiries into the excessive use of force and rights abuses, including reports that some of the military personnel involved were part of the presidential guard. The massacre raised concerns about Sierra Leone’s compliance with international human rights standards and its capacity to implement prison reforms. Media coverage, both local and international, portrayed the country’s justice and security system as fragile and reactive.
The April 29, 2020, prison riot and massacre at Pademba Road Correctional Centre revealed the structural weaknesses of Sierra Leone’s correctional service and justice systems. It also exposed the dangers of reactive security policies in environments of prolonged neglect. Ensuring justice and accountability for the victims and preventing future crises requires comprehensive reform, including decongesting prisons, training in non-lethal response strategies, and establishing oversight and accountability mechanisms. Therefore, this medium urges the public to demonstrate and demand justice and accountability for the inmates killed, and it calls on the International Criminal Court and public interest lawyers in the country to institute investigation into these killings and indict the President, his vice, and all those involved.
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