On November 28, Karishma Pelham-Raad, a District 10 Representative Candidate for Montserrado County in 2023 elections, claimed in a Facebook post that over 3,000 inmates were set free during a recent jailbreak in Sierra Leone at the Central Pademba Road Prison.
Madam Pelham-Raad’s claim was in response to a report posted by Sierra Leonean Journalist Umaru Fofana of the BBC on the recent saga, expressing concern that some of the inmates might flee into Liberia and become a problem for the citizens.
According to Journalist Umaru’s report, of the 1,890 inmates who escaped from the Central Prison after Sunday’s jailbreak, 155 were serving life imprisonment and 181 were long term convicts.
The Claim
Despite the figure mentioned by the renowned journalist, Karishma posted to her timeline: “The Sierra Leone central Pademba Road Prison was breached 2days ago and over 3,000 plus inmates set free.”
Rating Justification
Local Voices Liberia fact-checking desk verified this claim and found it incorrect.
To arrive at this verdict, we conducted a review of several international news outlets report on the saga. We found an article published by the Reuters News Agency dated November 28, 2023 with the headline, “20 killed in Sierra Leone attack and nearly 2,000 prisoners escape”.
According to Reuters, “Some 1,890 inmates escaped from Pademba Road Central Prison after the attackers broke in.” This information was based on a situation report provided by prison officials, the news agency stated.
To further authenticate the claim, we also reviewed news articles from BBC and Aljazeera, both of which quoted the Reuters situation report.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted by our fact-checking desk, we therefore conclude that Karishma Pelham-Raad’s claim of over 3,000 inmates being set free is misleading. The correct figure is1,890 inmates who escaped during the jailbreak, as reported by reliable sources.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content