The Prisons Service
of Southern Sudan has graduated 883
former Sudan Peoples’ Liberation
Army (SPLA) officers and non-commissioned
officers (NCOs) at the end of 75 days
of intensive training, in a bid to
transfer former Southern Sudanese
soldiers into professional jobs.
The trained personnel, 101 of whom
are female, represent a new Southern
Sudanese generation who will aim to
improve prison management and enforce
minimum human rights in treating inmates.
Addressing the occasion, Minster of
Labour and Human Resource Development
in Southern Sudan Awut Deng called
on authorities to respect prisoners’
and improve their living conditions.
“I called on the Prisons Service
to bring about reform … and
ensure to ensure that male, female
and child inmates are kept in separate
cells,” said Ms. Deng, referring
to conditions in some facilities in
Southern Sudan prior to the signing
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
in 2005, when male and female inmates,
including delinquent children, were
kept in one cell.
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More
than 20 years of civil war devastated
the region’s basic infrastructure,
destroying staff training centres,
according to Maj. Gen. Tong. “The
reform of the Southern Sudan Prisons
Service is a long- term process and
we are in its early stages, but I
am confident that with continued support
from donors, the Service will fulfill
its mission and vision.”
The training programme was carried
out under UNDP's Foundational Support
to the Prisons Services of Southern
Sudan Project and jointly funded by
the Department of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade (DFAIT) of
the Government of Canada. The effort
was supported by UNMIS Corrections
Advisors in planning and implementing
the prison projects as well as the
Multi-Donor Trust Fund, the Department
of International Development (DFID)
of the Government of UK and the British
Council.
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