Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican Attorney General Américo Letela argued on Wednesday that the country needs to build more prisons to address overcrowding, recalling that most Mozambican prisons were built during the colonial period.
“Most of our prisons were built in the last century. […] More than a century later, this scenario has changed radically, which requires structural reforms that necessarily include the construction of new prisons,” said Américo Letela in the question and answer session of the presentation of the annual report on the activities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in parliament.
Mozambican prisons are struggling with overcrowding, housing around 21,000 prisoners, when they have a capacity of 4,498 people, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Justice, released in 2020.
For the Mozambican attorney general, the challenges the country faces require responses of a “structural dimension”, considering that the solution to the problem goes beyond procedural speed and the application of alternative measures and penalties to prison.
Letela pointed out, as an example, the situation at the Sofala Provincial Penitentiary Establishment, in central Mozambique, which, although it has capacity for 150 inmates, currently houses 1,120 people.
“Overcrowding in prisons continues to be one of the main constraints in the management of the prison system, as it leads, for example, to the non-separation of inmates based on age, prison status, nature of crimes or degree of dangerousness,” he said.
Mozambique currently has almost 160 prisons, including regional, provincial and district prisons.
In July 2023, the Mozambican government announced its intention to build at least 10 new district-level prisons throughout the country, an estimated investment of almost €40,000.
For More News And Analysis About Mozambique Follow Africa-Press
