When people talk about “tough” prisons in The Gambia, one name dominates the conversation: Mile 2. The Gambia’s prison system consists of only three official facilities, and while all fall under the same overstretched national system, one stands apart in both scale and reputation. Here’s an honest look at what makes Mile 2 the country’s toughest facility, and what’s known about the other two.
Mile 2: The Gambia’s Most Notorious Prison
Mile 2, officially State Central Prison, is widely regarded as the toughest correctional facility in the country, and it’s not particularly close. Built by British colonial authorities in 1920 along the highway between Banjul and Serrekunda, it was designed to hold roughly 500 inmates but has a long, well-documented history of severe overcrowding, with cells intended for a handful of prisoners sometimes packed with several times that number.
Conditions inside have been described as failing to meet United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of prisoners, with poor ventilation, inadequate sanitation, and limited access to healthcare cited repeatedly over the decades. During Yahya Jammeh’s 1994–2017 dictatorship, Mile 2 became a central site of state repression, holding political opponents, journalists, and suspected dissidents, often without formal charges. Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission later found that dozens of people died there as a result of torture and neglect during that period, a legacy that continues to define the prison’s reputation even years after Jammeh’s departure.
What’s Changed Since Jammeh
Since the political transition, the Gambian government has stated its commitment to reforming Mile 2 and the broader prison system, pointing to changes like digital inmate record-keeping, on-site medical clinics staffed with health personnel, and the creation of a Prison Visiting Committee to conduct quarterly inspections. Plans to eventually relocate Mile 2 entirely and replace it with a modern facility have been discussed for years, though progress has been gradual. In a significant recent development, the Mile 2 site itself was transferred to the Gambia Ports Authority in late 2025 to support port expansion, a move tied to the long-anticipated closure and relocation plans.
Jeshwang and Janjangbureh: The Other Two Facilities
The Gambia’s remaining two prisons, Jeshwang Prison and Janjangbureh Prison (formerly known as Georgetown Prison, located inland along the Gambia River), receive far less public documentation or international scrutiny than Mile 2. There isn’t substantial publicly available reporting detailing specific “toughness” comparisons for these facilities, largely because most human rights reporting, journalism, and truth commission findings on Gambian prisons have concentrated almost entirely on Mile 2’s conditions and history.
Why Mile 2 Stands Alone
Given how small The Gambia’s prison system is, with just three facilities total, Mile 2’s outsized notoriety comes down to a combination of factors: its role as the country’s primary maximum-security facility, its function during a repressive political era, and the sheer volume of documented testimony from former inmates, prison staff, and truth commission investigations. That combination has made it not just the toughest prison in the country, but one of the more internationally recognized examples of prison conditions tied to political repression in West Africa.
Join The Discussion
Have you followed Gambia’s prison reform efforts, or do you have insight into conditions at Jeshwang or Janjangbureh that don’t get as much coverage? We’d love to hear your perspective, whether from advocacy work, research, or personal knowledge of the Gambian justice system. Share your thoughts and questions below.
