New Prison

A United Nations financed prison for Somali pirates has been opened in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa. The facility, built to counter the flood of new arrivals overwhelming jails elsewhere in the region, accepted the first detainees at the end of March.

New pirate prison in Somalia aims to relieve international overload
By Mike Mount, CNN

Somali pirates captured on the high seas and prosecuted in other countries are now being transferred to a new prison in Somalia. It’s a significant change for countries combating piracy but are seeing their own jail systems overwhelmed as the U.S. and other countries continue to catch and turn over pirates to countries willing to prosecute them.

The prison, located in the self-governed northern part of Somalia, accepted its first detainees at the end of March, according to U.S. State Department officials. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime is paying for the transport and the prison facility, according to U.S. State Department officials.

The first prisoners were transferred from the tiny island nation of Seychelles, located off the east coast of Africa, where small facilities have been quickly overcrowded. The new prison is in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-governed breakaway enclave of Somaliland. The region declared its independence in 1991 and has remained relatively violence-free and self-sustaining, unlike the……….[access full article]