The central prison of Walikale, located in North Kivu, has been in the spotlight for some time. Indeed, through a press release published on June 9, a local elected official from this province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) decries the state of this prison, described as a place of death, following the deaths of two of its prisoners. on June 7 and 8, due to lack of medical care and food.
The provincial deputy Prince Kihangi specifies that the two detainees died in pre-trial detention, one of whom had been arrested for a year and the other for two years. “It is in this prison where you can detain someone for more than two years without having appeared,” he laments.
The number of deaths recorded since its alert of March 31 now stands at sixteen. The notable thus pleads for the improvement of the conditions of detention and the organization of a mobile room in this prison which currently houses 190 detainees in inhuman conditions.
95% of them are in preventive detention, which increases the urgency of resolving this alarming situation. Faced with the government’s inaction, it asks the provincial authority as well as all the partners involved in the sector to take concrete measures to avoid further loss of life.
This call for help tends to underline the laxity of the government and the deplorable treatment of people in preventive detention in the country’s prisons. What does he intend to do to alleviate this growing suffering? The situation is more than alarming, as prisons in the DRC, which house around 30,000 to 40,000 people, remain overcrowded and poorly equipped.
It is time for the country’s authorities to take their responsibility and act to improve living conditions in detention. Because, as human beings, detainees have the right to decent treatment and humane conditions of detention