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MONUSCO has trained court registry staff members in Bunia central prison on the court registry work

MONUSCO has trained court registry staff members in Bunia central prison on the court registry work. Photo MONUSCO

From Sunday 14 to Monday 15 June 2020, MONUSCO Corrections Unit organized a two-day training sessions on the prison registry work for ten clerks of the court of Bunia central prison, including two women and two clerks from the military department of this prison.

This training, which is also taking place in other penitentiary facilities in the DRC, was aimed at strengthening the capacities of the prison registry staff and improving the functioning of the registry service which includes recording and monitoring of the situation of the detainees held in the prison with a view to contributing to the fight against unlawful or irregular detentions. In short, the purpose is to "help them to adopt the good management practices of the registry services", said Boukary Zango of MONUSCO prison unit in Bunia.

During the two-day training, trainers focused on the need for continuing updating of the database on the situation of the detainees by the court registrars with the help of the computer.

They also explained to the participants the importance of computerizing inmates’ data, which would help the registry department to be more efficient in their work of monitoring the prison situation for each inmate. That is the very reason why they were requested to ensure that statistical data were entered correctly into the computer on a regular basis.

“We are fully satisfied with this training and with our partners, whom we sincerely thank for their concern in updating and upgrading the level of our military and civilian registry services, we have learnt a lot. As of now we will be more careful with our records, detention and above all our responsibility. We pledge we will do our best to keep up with the good and keep the records regularly updated and we will ensure that our detainees are in good conditions of detention and keep posted by the Prosecutor's Office which arrested them", said Flavien Bula, the penitentiary Captain Inspector and second in command in charge of the administration and chief of the military registry department who took part in the training.

The training covered various themes, in particular: detention titles, verification of their validity and the identity of detainees, the organization of the prison administration and the prison registry service, the mandatory information for the register, procedures and follow-up related to the situation of the inmates detained on the prison, starting from prevention up to the relaxation, the inspections and control of the penitentiary registry by the prosecution of the courts, relations between the prison registry department and the judicial authorities, the OPJ (Judicial Police Officers) and others ... or the management of registers and archives of the prison registry.

The registry office, for the laymen, is the service responsible for registering any newly arrived detainee and monitoring their prison situation until their release. It therefore combines tasks of a judicial nature and tasks of an administrative nature. The penitentiary registry is a relay body between the judicial authorities, the auxiliaries of the Justice sector (lawyers, bailiffs), the administrative authorities and the prisoners.

Due to Covid-19 requirements, all the participants as well as the various speakers received and wore mufflers and observed social distancing measures as part of the prevention against this pandemic.