The former director general of Gambia Prison Services has admitted to using colonial era law to run the country’s prisons. 

David Charles Colley, who was the prison chief during the Jammeh dictatorship, told 

the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission(TRRC) on Monday that he was relying on the 1953 Prison Act in the discharged of his duties. 

Mr. Colley faced accusations of gross human rights abuses including torturing prisoners, feeding ‘bad food’ to prisoners which allegedly led to deaths in the prisons. 

He used the act to defend his actions during his testimony to the TRRC. 

Lead counsel Essa Faal informed him that he was relying on a defunct Prison Act as the 1953 Prison Act was amended in 2005 and 2008.

“You have been applying the wrong law on the prison. And that is as far as you have gone,” Counsel Faal said.

Mr. Colley said he was not aware of the amendments and that the law book he was using was supplied to him when he joined the prison service. 

He said when the law was amended several times he was not aware and did not receive a copy of the law.

“That is not my fault. The Minister (of Interior) should have informed me and even give me a copy,” Mr. Colley said