KEY POINTS
- Makala prison’s overcrowding and poor conditions led to a deadly breakout attempt.
- Inmates face severe overcrowding, limited food, and a lack of basic necessities.
- Human rights advocates are calling for immediate prison reforms in DR Congo.
Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo is notorious for its long-standing problem of overcrowding and dirtiness. After a failed breakout attempt this week that left 129 inmates dead, the world has once again focused on the appalling conditions of the prison. Human rights groups especially the prisoners regard the facility as a ‘hell’.
The prison was designed for 1, 500 inmates but it currently hosts almost ten times this number, ranging from criminals who have committed petty offenses, and political prisoners, to murderers. Makala is, indeed, a hell for the prisoners. Former inmate and journalist Stanis Bujakera made a saddening report about the prison. ‘Makala is not a prison, but a detention center similar to a concentration camp, where people are sent to die,’ Bujakera told the BBC.
Overcrowding, Hunger, and Deprivation
The breakout which started on a Monday morning, saw inmates attempt to escape the suffocating heat and dehumanizing conditions within the prison. According to a report by Ghana Web, the majority of the inmates had spent over a day in tight and hot cells without water or electricity. 129 prisoners were killed because of the panic – 24 were shot trying to escape and the rest were trampled to death.
The condition of the prison has been a subject of concern to human rights activists for quite some time now. Inmates endure extreme overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and insufficient food supply. Inmates are only fed once a day. They are given a maize meal with watery vegetable stew, while many of them depend on family members to supply them with food. Those who have no one to turn to are likely to be malnourished. Many even die because of starvation.
Urgent Calls for Reform
The failed escape has further ignited the demands for better conditions in DR Congo’s prisons. ‘People are literally abandoned to their fate in Makala,’ said Rostin Manketa, the executive director of the Congolese human rights organization La Voix des Sans Voix. He emphatically stated that the only way to avoid future disasters is to conduct a system change, which includes building new prisons and improving the condition of the current ones.
Autonomy among prisoners also contributes to the dysfunctionalities. A former Makala inmate, and human rights activist Fred Bauma said, “Prisoners govern themselves.” “It is sort of like their own little world, separate from everyone else’s where things turn into a violent power struggle.”
The Congolese government has recognized the overcrowding problem, and yet, reforms are taking too long, and inmates remain in dangerous conditions. For prisoners like Bujakera, the demand for change is urgent: “This is a sick justice system, and people are dying while waiting for a cure.”
