After more than 260 female prisoners at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa were sexually raped during a mass escape attempt, the overcrowded and dangerous prisons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo came to light last month.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated that prison conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have gotten worse and that incidents of sexual assault and torture have been documented in detention facilities controlled by the intelligence agencies.
More than 260 female prisoners were sexually abused during an attempt at a mass breakout from the Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa last month, drawing attention to the overcrowded, violent, and filthy prisons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Using live ammunition against detainees attempting to escape, prison guards killed at least 129 individuals. According to official records, the prison can hold 1,500 inmates, but it actually houses almost 15,000 people.
During a human rights briefing on Tuesday, High Commissioner Volker Turk stated that detainees in the nation were being held in “disastrous conditions” without access to attorneys or family members.
“In detention centers run by the intelligence services, in particular, a number of detainees are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence” , he told the United Nations Human Rights Council.
jail break
Representatives of the UN Human Rights Office have repeatedly been denied access to Makala and the intelligence services’ detention centers, spokesperson Seif Magango said later on Tuesday.
“We have not yet gained access to Makala Prison despite numerous letters to the relevant authorities. We also still have no access to detention centres,” he said.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the army, which oversee the intelligence services and their detention centers, said he had not been informed about Turk’s comments.
Tshisekedi made a vow to shut down the intelligence services’ detention facilities, which had a long history of brutally abusing inmates, when he took office in 2019.
In an effort to lessen overcrowding, Tshisekedi ordered an investigation and a review of the biggest prisons in the DRC following the jail break last month.
