Photo of inmates sleeping on the floor. Source: Musa Kamara
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Claim: Musa Kamara, a Facebook user, posted a picture of inmates in an overcrowded room on the Sekou Kalasco Damaro page (Facebook group), claiming to be the Monrovia Central Prison.
Verdict: False! A Zimbabwe News Agency (IHARARE) reported on June 8, 2022, that the image is from the Chawagona Hapana Prison in Zimbabwe.
Full Text
The Monrovia Central Prison, commonly called South Beach, is Liberia’s number one prison. Based on the number of inmates admitted there daily, it gets overcrowded, reports have suggested.
A Facebook user posted in the Sekou Kalasco Damaro page on May 10, 2025, an image of overcrowded prisoners on the floor, claiming it was taken at the Monrovia prison.
A screenshot of the post.
The post generated 59 reactions, 68 comments, and one share. In the comment section, users argued that the picture was not from Liberia. On the other hand, some agreed with the claimant. The mixed reactions led DUBAWA to conduct a fact-check.
A screenshot of comments.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a reverse image search on Bing. The result shows that IHarare News Agency in Zimbabwe uploaded the image on June 8, 2022. The entity recorded that the image originated from a prison in Zimbabwe. According to Iharare, the picture was captured from the Bindura Prison, informally known as Chawagona Hapana in Zimbabwe. The report is found here.
Several other reports point to Zimbabwe as the location for the image of the overcrowded prison, which can be seen on the Zimbabwe Observer and the Instigator on Twitter, formerly called X, in 2023.
Conclusion
Based on our findings, the image is not from Liberia.
