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Congo-Kinshasa: Kasaï Oriental - Deaths in Mbuji Mayi Central Prison Remain Alarming
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United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Nina Yacoubian
Deaths continue to be recorded in Mbuji Mayi central prison, in Kasaï Oriental province. At least 26 prisoners died from severe and acute malnutrition in the prison since February 2008. Despite this, there are no specific measures being taken to ensure good conditions of detention in the prisons of Kasaï Oriental.
The prison, which houses 425 prisoners in a prison originally designed for 200, had a new series of deaths on the night of 13/14 July 2008. On that night, four prisoners died of hunger, increasing the number of deaths to 10 people in one month.
Informed about the new deaths, MONUC Mbuji Mayi Human Rights section visited the prison to investigate.
"MONUC expressed deep dissatisfaction to the provincial authorities on the living conditions of the prisoners," said MONUC Mbuji Mayi Human Rights Officer Assiongbon Tettekpoe.
"Our concern is even greater as we noted that among these deaths, many of them are defendants, who are therefore presumed innocent because they have not been judged due to the slowness of the legal process," he added.
These four prisoners who died were on a list of 30 prisoners whose health condition was considered alarming, and who required urgent medical care.
According to MONUC's Human Rights section in Mbuji Mayi, there are more than twenty prisoners on the verge of death.
But what can be done to prevent the worst, when it is almost impossible for these malnourished and sick prisoners to be accepted into the public hospitals because they don't have the means to pay for their medical care?
MONUC has urged the local authorities to warn certain public doctors who refuse to accept the prisoners into their care, as the doctors believe they are not "creditworthy."
For a definitive solution to the malnutrition problem, MONUC recommended the implementation of a specific food and healthcare budget for the prisoners.
Until a durable solution is taken by the central and local authorities to improve the situation, MONUC is providing water to the prison on a weekly basis. MONUC also distributed corn on a twice weekly basis for the prisoners between January and May 2008.
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At its weekly press conference of 16 July 2008, MONUC recalled that its primarily the responsibility of the Congolese authorities to ensure reasonable detention conditions for prisoners of Mbuji Mayi's central prison, as well as other prisons in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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