Gate of Wau Central Prison where Akwac is being held for refusing to accept an arranged marriage. (Photo: Courtesy).

Wau Central Prison authorities in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, have announced that families can now visit inmates at the facility on weekends, following a three-week suspension of visitors.

The state Prison Director Major General George Gedo says the visit to inmates was suspended after convicts clashed among themselves last month.

General Gedo said the fighting which escalated along clan lines, broke out over a misunderstanding between two inmates.

“On the twentieth day of last month, a quarrel occurred inside the prison between two inmates inside the prison, and this quarrel developed into a clan fight,” he narrated.

The incident reportedly forced the prison authorities to suspend family visits for at least two weeks.

“So, we decided to intervene and sat with them and issued a penalty of stopping the family visitation for a period of two weeks, and today we have lifted the suspension of visits.”

But General Gedo disclosed that the prison is currently reopened for visitors – but only on weekends, starting August 19.

“Now at twelve o’clock the families will begin to come. We will allow them to visit during the week, on Saturdays and Sundays. In the past, we would let them visit daily.

On July 2020, a similar riot at Wau Central Prison killed four people including two inmates and two security officers.

The violence was reportedly linked to a major prison break during which some inmates had disarmed prisoned guards and used their weapons to attempt an escape.

In January this year, prison authorities in the state decried overcrowding where prison cells reportedly exceeded their capacity.

An official told Eye Radio that the facility with a capacity of only 200 people, is now a home to 800 inmates transferred from across the Bahr el Ghazal region.