Mozambique: Country’s prisons overcrowded at over 200% capacity

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Country’s prisons overcrowded at over 200% capacity

6:59 CAT | 04 Jun 2018

File photo

Mozambican prisons are operating at 222.1% capacity, with no change expected to lower the number of prisoners or reduce overcrowding, according to figures from the Attorney General’s Office.

The former Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs of Mozambique, Isaque Chande (removed from office last week as he was selected as Ombudsman), told Lusa that the end of the overcrowding of Mozambican prisons will only be possible with construction of more establishments and applying alternative penalties and measures to imprisonment.

This will be a challenge for the new Minister, who has yet to be nominated.

Annual information from the PGR showed that the country’s prisons had 18,185 inmates in December 2017, roughly the same number as in the same period of 2016 (18,183).

“Overcrowding in the penitentiary system is reaching unsustainable levels, making it difficult to manage, secure, rehabilitate and re-socialise prisoners. Thus, it is urgent to adopt a strategy that guarantees, in the short and medium term, the increase in installed capacity,” the document said.

Young people make up most of the prison population, with 28.7% between the ages of 22 and 25 and 35% of inmates aged between 26 and 35 years old.

The Mozambican prosecutor’s office considers that overcrowding of prisons is caused by the reduced capacity of prisons, excessive use of imprisonment as a sentence and weak enforcement of alternative sentences.

“In order to deal with the overcrowding of establishments, we are campaigning at a national level,” with a “reduction in the number of defendants in pre-trial detention,” the report said.

Exposure of young people to risk factors increases the likelihood of crime, violence and dangerous situations, the document added.

The former minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs told Lusa before leaving office that the country needs more investments in prisons to solve the problem of overcrowding.

“The problem of overcrowding is solved with investments in the penitentiary area: the country has to look for resources that allow for the construction of new units,” said Chande.

He added that the shortcomings reflect the difficult financial situation facing the country that is also affecting other areas such as health and education.

Alongside these difficulties, many districts of the country still have no jails, which means inmates have to be held in other districts.

Despite the challenges that remain, the ICC concluded, the prison system is improving, especially in terms of sanitation, feeding and occupying prisoners with productive activities.

Source: Lusa