Congo frees 600 inmates at main prison in a bid to ease overcrowding

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in Congo said they released 600 prisoners in the country’s main prison on Saturday as part of a process aimed at decongesting overcrowded prisons.

Justice Minister Constant Mutamba announced the move during a ceremony at Makala Central Prison in Congo’s capital, Kinshasha.

There are plans for construction of a new prison in Kinshasa, he said, without giving more details.

Makala prison, Congo’s largest penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds more than 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report.

Earlier this month, an attempted jailbreak in the prison left 129 people dead, including some who were shot by guards and soldiers and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, according to authorities. Emmanuel Adu Cole, a prominent prison rights activist in Congo and president of the local Bill Clinton Peace Foundation, put the death toll at more than 200.

There were also several cases of women raped during the attempted jailbreak, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani posted on X earlier this month, without elaborating.

“We have had a difficult time in recent days with everything that was happening here, there were rapes, we were victims, many of us died,” said Prisca Mbombo, one of the freed prisoners. The 22-year-old Mbombo spent two months in the prison after being arrested following a fight in a bar.

“We really thank this gesture from the minister and I will never return to this place,” she said.

Inmates had increasingly grown frustrated with the poor conditions in the facility, including inadequate beds, poor feeding and poor sanitation. However, authorities failed to act despite warnings, said Cole, whose foundation has visited the prison in the past.

Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, a prominent Congolese journalist who was recently detained in the prison for months, spoke of its “deplorable and inhumane” conditions and how inmates constantly lack food, water and medical care. Nearly 700 women, and hundreds of minors who are “treated in the same way as adults,” are among the inmates, he said.

Mutamba, the justice minister, said that around 10 minors were freed on Saturday, while he ordered prison authorities to examine the cases of all minors to organize more releases. There are around 300 minors at Makala prison, according to the prison’s deputy director.

“I am happy to regain my freedom. I am still young and I can return to my studies,” Munganga Mungendo, a 16-year-old who spent more than a year at the prison after having been sentenced to four years for theft, told The Associated Press.

All severely ill inmates at Makala prison will be released starting Sunday, Mutamba said.

Jean-yves Kamale, The Associated Press