Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Mozambique: Local Prisons Holding Over 16,000 Inmates

20 June 2012

Maputo — Mozambique's prisons are currently holding 16,881 inmates, which is more than double their capacity, the Justice Ministry revealed on Tuesday. Of this number 6,415 prisoners are awaiting trial.

The jails are holding 157 foreigners. Of these, 83 prisoners have been convicted and 74 are being held in preventive detention.

To discuss the chronic overcrowding in Mozambican jails, the Justice Ministry has chosen the theme "Humanising the Prison Service in Search of Sustainability" for the meeting of the coordinating council of the National Prisons Service (SNAPRI), currently underway in Vilanculos, in the southern province Inhambane.

There are 81 prisons across the country, of which 64 are district jails.

Justice Minister Benvinda Levi is chairing the two day meeting which will discuss a package of measures and alternative penalties to imprisonment.

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