Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s Attorney-General, Americo Letela, has revealed that the country’s prisons now hold more than twice the number of inmates they were designed for.
Addressing the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday, giving his annual report on the state of the Mozambican justice system, Letela told deputies that the country, as of December 2025, “had 157 penitentiary establishments, with a capacity for 8,873 prisoners, but it housed 18,957, representing an overcrowding rate of 113 percent.”
According to Letela, the country faces serious problems when it comes to overcrowding, procedural delays, and inadequate conditions in the country’s prisons. “Significant flaws persist in the control of the procedural situation of prisoners, including disorganization of individual files and the absence of essential documents”, he said.
Letela also explained that the country’s judicial system faces delays in granting parole and processing judicial appeals.
“This constitutes one of the main obstacles to the effective functioning of justice. This situation compromises basic incarceration conditions, including food, medical care, and access to educational, cultural, and recreational activities”, he said.
Letela also expressed concerns about violation of human rights in various sectors of society, especially in the mining and construction sectors, where workers face precarious conditions, illegal working hours, and lack of protective equipment.
“Cases of harassment, discrimination, and violence were also recorded”, he added.
The Attorney-General also explained that there has been weak use of alternative sentences to imprisonment, and deficiencies in security systems, aggravated by a lack of adequate technical resources.
“In order to address the matter, the authorities have been implementing some measures such as the application of alternative sentences, such as socially useful work, and also the processing of 1,700 parole applications”, he said.
“Without structural investments and profound reforms”, Letela warned, “the current problems could compromise the objectives of rehabilitation and social reintegration of prisoners”.
Letela also revealed that the government plans to build new prisons as part of the solution, “with projects already underway in the southern province of Inhambane and the central province of Sofala.”
