Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs has decided to employ only female prison guards inside the Ndlavela women’s prison in Maputo province, which has been plagued by accusations of sexual exploitation of female prisoners.
“A force composed exclusively of women has been deployed to ensure the security of inmates inside the jail,” said a source from the ministry, cited by the state-owned Notícias newspaper, Mozambique’s largest daily.
These female prison guards are to work in the area where the buildings are located that contain the prisoners’ cells and in the administrative area, said the source, who was not identified.
A small number of male prison guards are to ensure security around the prison.
The source also pointed out that disciplinary and criminal proceedings are underway against prison officers and managers who are suspected of involvement in the sexual abuse that had allegedly occurred in the establishment.
The managers in question were suspended from their posts soon after reports emerged in June of the existence of a network of sexual exploitation of inmates, run by prison guards.
The accusations were made public by the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a non-governmental organisation, which said that inmates were taken out of the jail and forced to have sexual relations with clients who paid the guards.
Following the complaint, the Ministry of Justice set up a commission of enquiry made up of staff from the institution and independent figures, including psychologists. It found no evidence of sexual exploitation of inmates, but did find of sexual abuse by guards and outsiders.
The abuse took place inside the penitentiary and not outside, as reported by the CIP, the commission found.
“On balance, the events are characterised and classified in the form of sexual abuse in the prison system,” said Elisa Samuel, the commission’s rapporteur, when reading the conclusions of the work. “Sexual abuse in the prison happened in various forms.”
