By Emmanuel Nduka
Prison facilities in Liberia, numbering 15, have all run out of food for inmates.
This, according to prison officials, has caused two prisons, including the main Monrovia Central Prison, to temporarily shut their doors to new intakes.
Officials say the situation is caused by a number of factors including delays in remitting funds for food and upkeep of prison facilities.
Director of Prisons, Sainleseh Kwaidah, told the BBC on Monday that the Government was doing everything to resolve the situation.
Kwaidah said after some interventions, the two prisons that had stopped admitting inmates had reopened their doors and food was reaching others.
A prison warder also told the BBC that the prisons had shut the doors to avoid putting more people at risk because of the food shortage. He said there was also a possibility that angry inmates could stage jailbreaks.
Meanwhile, Upjit Singh Sachdeva, a known businessman who is commonly referred to as Mr Jetty, has stepped in to provide food to mitigate the crisis.
The businessman has often provided cooked meals to inmates in the Monrovia Central Prison.
