In the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Bukavu central prison is facing a major crisis of prison overcrowding. Built well before the country’s independence, this institution is now overwhelmed by a number of inmates far exceeding its initial capacity.
Indeed, with a capacity designed to accommodate 1,500 inmates, the Bukavu central prison currently has more than 5,000 inmates. This situation raises many questions about the living conditions of the inmates, their access to fundamental rights and the capacity of the judicial system to deal with this overcrowding.
Faced with this urgent problem, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is committed to finding solutions to relieve congestion in the prison and improve detention conditions. In collaboration with the authorities involved in the prison chain, the ICRC has set up a brainstorming workshop aimed at reducing pretrial detention and developing good practices for more effective management of the prison population.
The main objective of this initiative is to offer detainees a more dignified life, ensuring that they are not deprived of their fundamental rights despite their deprivation of liberty. The judicial, civil and military prison actors of South Kivu have thus been invited to participate in this collective effort to find lasting solutions to this humanitarian crisis.
Nelly Seya, public prosecutor and representative of the first president of the South Kivu Court of Appeal, underlines the importance of this approach by emphasizing the need to respect the rights of detainees and to guarantee decent conditions of detention. It is essential that all actors involved in the judicial system become aware of their responsibility and act accordingly to remedy this critical situation.
Marie Bonheur Bohonda, ICRC Protection Team Leader in South Kivu, stresses the importance of this awakening to professional conscience so that each of the actors concerned fully plays their role in the search for viable solutions to relieve prison overcrowding and improve the lives of detainees.
In conclusion, overcrowding in Bukavu Central Prison is a complex problem that requires concerted action by all stakeholders. It is essential to find sustainable solutions to ensure that detainees’ rights are respected and that detention conditions are dignified and humane. The work undertaken by the ICRC and the local authorities is essential to provide concrete responses to this humanitarian crisis and restore hope to a prison population in distress.