Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Minister of Justice today refuted the allegations of bad food in the Central Prison of Praia and warned that “prison is not a hotel”, that the inmates are there to serve sentences. The strike, according to her, has nothing to do with food, but rather with security measures adopted to prevent the entry of drugs.
Joana Rosa, who was speaking to the press today, in Cidade da Praia, refuted the allegations of poor quality meals, ensuring that a nutritionist was hired, “substantially” improving the diet in the chain.
“The intention of going on strike has nothing to do with food and not even with regard to the issue of human rights. It will have to do with some decisions taken at the level of security in the jails, the reduction in the number of visits to prevent the entry of drugs, food made outside, and this is a decision that would have to be taken, because we do not have the conditions to be all days receiving visits in jails”, stressed the official.
Reinforcement of human rights
The Government, recalled Joana Rosa, invested a lot in human rights, also promoting training for prison security agents in matters of human rights, the Mandela Rules in prisons, reinforcing social technicians, developing specific programs to work on each type of crime in chain.
“The drug-free unit has been working, we hired a psychiatrist to assist inmates with symptoms of mental disorders, so there are several actions that we have been developing in prisons and that we understand that there is no reason for a strike”, he stressed.
At the moment, he assured, work is being done with the Ministry of Health to place a full-time doctor, but revealed that the Ministry of Justice has been demanding a basic health unit (USB) in the Central prison of Praia, justified by the prison population, which is nearly 1,300 inmates.
overcrowding
With regard to overcrowding in jail, he also recalled that this is the result of the increase in crime that leads to judicial decisions, aimed at restoring social peace. Meanwhile, he revealed that there is already a project ready for the enlargement of the central prison in Praia.
“We are going to have more cells, better conditions because we have taken measures, for example, to separate preventive and convicted prisoners, which was a very well-balanced measure, training in prisons has been provided, teaching as well”, he specified, adding that “inmates have to bear in mind that the jail is not a hotel, the jail is a space where the prisoner is placed to serve a sentence, but also so that he can be re-socialized, work on social reintegration and have a reduction in criminal recidivism”.
Reduction of visits
According to the minister, in order to have security in the jail, the first measure was to reduce the number of visits, since, she argued, most of the time, those who take prohibited objects and drugs to the inmates are family members.
At the moment, Praia’s central jail has almost 1,300 inmates, of which about 40 are women, that is, more than 1,200 of the prison population are men, 74% of whom are young people.
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