MONROVIA, LIBERIA-A looming rift is imminent between prison authorities and some court officials over inmate’s imprisonment in Montserrado County.

It followed the issuance of contempt charge on the Superintendent of the Monrovia Central Prison, Varney Lake, by the West Point Magisterial Court on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

Associate Magistrate Thomas Garlo’s December 14 Criminal Contempt Charge against Superintendent Lake is based on his failure to jail a defendant charged from the court with aggravated assault at the Monrovia Central Prison.

Superintendent Lake is said to have failed to jail the defendant on the orders of Magistrate Garlo on grounds that the prison is overwhelmed by inmates.

According to reports, Authorities of the Monrovia Central Prison have since shutdown the facility to new inmates, due to overcrowdings.

The facility was initially built for three-hundred-seventy inmates, but it is now hosting more than one-thousand inmates.

In another development, lawyers representing three foreign nationals and a Liberian in the one-hundred-million Cocaine Case application for separate trial were denied at Criminal Court ‘C’ on Wednesday, December 14,2022.

Judge Blamo Dixon denied defense counsel’s application on grounds that the four men were jointly indicted with the same multiple state crimes.

In his ruling, Judge Dixon maintained that it will be unlawful to grant defendants Malam Conto, Addullai Djibril, Mark Issam and Oliver Zayzay separate trials.

But Defense Lawyer, Cllr. Wellington Bedell took exception to Judge Dixon’s ruling, saying he will take advantage of the law.

Judge Dixon’s decision comes barely a day when he granted Defense lawyers’ application to advance the one-hundred-million dollar Cocaine Case on the trial docket for litigation.

The four defendants have since been indicted by the Liberian Government for allegedly transporting 520kg of cocaine valued at one-hundred-million US Dollars.