CALM RETURNS TO MONROVIA CENTRAL PRISON AFTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONROVIA 000986

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2018
TAGS: ASEC CASC PHUM PGOV KCRM LI
SUBJECT: CALM RETURNS TO MONROVIA CENTRAL PRISON AFTER
JAILBREAK

REF: MONROVIA 977

Classified By: Ambassador Linda-Thomas Greenfield for Reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d).


1. (SBU) Calm has returned to the Monrovia Central Prison
following a jailbreak December 1 (reftel). UNMIL Police
(UNPOL) Commissioner Henrik Stiernblad told Emboffs December
2 that a total of 202 prisoners escaped the prison. A total
of 64 people were arrested in the ensuing search, but in fact
28 of those arrested turned out not to be prisoners and were
released, leaving the total number of recaptured prisoners as
of December 2 at 36.


2. (SBU) According to Stiernblad, the events began as a riot
by prisoners over the lack of court dates and poor prison
conditions. The prisoners broke into a tool shed which
stored shovels and machetes, and quickly overpowered prison
guards who fled the scene. A Nepalese UNPOL Formed Police
Unit (FPU) platoon stayed at the main gate and using tear gas
(nine canisters) and warning shots, attempted to keep the
prisoners within the walls of the prison. However, other
UNMIL personnel, in an effort to save a vehicle from
destruction, opened another gate to remove the vehicle, thus
allowing the majority of prisoners to escape through the open
gate. Other prisoners scaled the prison walls. At the time
of the prison break, only three Liberia National Police (LNP)
officers were on duty at the prison.


3. (SBU) Stiernblad said that the Nepalese FPU had requested
reinforcements, but they had not arrived in time. Currently
there are three FPU platoons guarding inside the prison with
a platoon from the Nigerian UNMIL Battalion guarding the
perimeter.


4. (SBU) The LNP is continuing its search. The Emergency
Response Unit (ERU) was deployed several hours after the
break to conduct perimeter searches of neighborhoods but did
not make any arrests. There appears to have been some
cooperation between UNMIL and the LNP on the dragnet in the
ensuing hours, but it is still unclear how well coordinated
it was. UNMIL personnel manned checkpoints, but did not
assist the LNP in neighborhood searches. UNPOL (including
ERU) advisors were present, however. Stiernblad said that
UNMIL was planning to work out an operational plan with the
LNP to conduct a more thorough search.


5. (U) Press accounts state that some of the prisoners broke
into nearby homes to steal clothes and otherwise loot the
homes. The press has also made a link between guards' recent
grievances over pay, and the possibility of some type of
collusion, but there has been no direct evidence of that.


6. (C) Stiernblad admitted that the prison break has put the
UN in a difficult position as it was clear that, because of
the overcrowded conditions and the long pre-trial detentions,
the prisoners' human rights were being violated, and by
helping to maintain the prison and recapturing the prisoners,
the UN may be seen as complicit. He said the UN will conduct
an investigation to determine whether any failure of UNMIL
contributed to the jailbreak.


7. (SBU) Comment: The prison break occurred at a traditional
period of increased crime (Christmas season) so we expect an
uptick in crime soon, but it will be difficult to determine
the cause. The delay in deploying the ERU indicates that
some improvement in the deployment order process is required.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD