“There was no cooperation of the inmates in the search process”

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“There was no cooperation of the inmates in the search process”

12:47 CAT | 27 Apr 2018

O País

On the 2nd of February, female inmates of Maputo Preventive Penitentiary (the former ‘Cadeia Civil’) complained of having been beaten and indiscriminately searched internally by a Rapid Intervention Unit during a cell search for forbidden objects such as cell phones.

This Thursday, the Director General of the National Penitentiary Service (SERNAP), Domingos Chame, said that the alleged mistreatment of prisoners in the Maputo City Preventive Institution was due to their lack of cooperation in the routine search process, which put them on a collision course with the prison guards.

Chame said such searches for forbidden objects were routinely carried.

“In the inspections carried out on the alleged victims, nothing was found. After the search, some inmates did not cooperate, a factor that culminated in action being now considered violence or violation of human rights, but investigation has demonstrated that there was no aggression,” he said.

Chame however says that human rights must respected, and that any behaviour by officials which tarnishes the image of the institution will attract exemplary punishment.

Asked about the involvement of a prison guard in the sale of drugs in the prison, Chame regretted the truth of the allegation and said that the official was being punished.

“There will always be behaviour of this nature, because of the nature of the National Penitentiary Service, and we will take appropriate measures, whether they be disciplinary or criminal,” Chame said.

His statements came on Thursday at the opening of the fifth Coordinating Council of the National Penitentiary Service, which lasts two days. The meeting aims to assess and approve matters submitted to it, including the Penitentiary Services strategic development policy to be submit the supervising minister, and the report of annual activities.

Under the motto ‘SERNAP: Guaranteeing Penitentiary Security, Rehabilitation and Increased Production’, the opening of the meeting was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Arlindo Langa. In his remarks, Langa said that the national penitentiary system continues to be a great challenge for the country and for the justice sector.

By Julião Job

Source: O País