Officials on Friday said Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State’s Aweil Central Prison is overcrowded, forcing inmates to sleep seated or in shifts.
The revelation followed a visit by Governor Simon Uber Mawut to the correctional facility.
The prison currently hosts over 800 inmates, including children and women. Its Director Philip Tong said it was built for only 150 inmates.
“We have some challenges facing us and the major one is overcrowding. The prison was built to accommodate only 150 inmates but now hosts 800, the inmates are forced to sleep seated or in shifts and the youth are very many. We have over 40 juveniles and we also lack power,” Tong told Radio Tamazuj.
Tong stressed the need for increasing the jail’s capacity to improve the living standards and to accommodate the increasing numbers of inmates.
State Minister of Health Dr Riing Diing Lual Dau said overcrowding had led to outbreak of water related and skin diseases at the prison.
“The most common diseases here are due to congestion and water problems. Fortunately, we have trained health personnel in the prison. There is a section for tuberculosis and HIV Aids patients,” Diing said.
The State Minister for Information and Communication, Garang Zachariah, said the State Government would address some of the challenges.
The inmates complained that some of them were detained for simple cases that could be resolved easily if they were heard faster in the courts, Zachariah said. He also lamented the lack of enough food and mosquito nets.
The Governor promised to look into the challenges presented by the inmates.
