Prison inmates in Swaziland
reportedly rioted because of food shortages. They were given sour
porridge because there was no bread.
Untrained correctional
officer recruits were sent to deal with the incident at Sidwashini Correctional
facility, according
to the Swazi Observer newspaper (27 December 2017).
The newspaper reported, ‘According
to inside sources, the pandemonium was sparked after the inmates were given
sour porridge for breakfast instead of bread.
‘The inmates were expecting
to have bread and tea as is usually the case on Saturdays but this did not
happen.
‘When the sour porridge was
served, the inmates rejected it and started protesting. The situation soon
resembled a strike action as the inmates started singing and toyi-toying.
‘The officers stationed
there tried to calm down the irate inmates but the situation got worse.
Off-duty officers were called but they also failed to restore order amongst the
rioting inmates.’
The newspaper said recruits
training at HMCS Training College in Matsapha were ‘hastily organised’ and
armed with batons and sent to Sidwashini.
Deputy Public Relations
Officer at HMCS, Mandla Sibiya denied recruits were involved. He told the
newspaper, ‘Nobody was assaulted at Sidwashini facility. If any inmate was
assaulted, I would advise them to report to the human rights officers stationed
there who will in turn take appropriate action.’
He said the bread shortage occurred because a bakery truck broke down.
He said the bread shortage occurred because a bakery truck broke down.
Sidwashini was at the
centre of controversy during 2017 after allegations surfaced that prison
officers were supplying inmates with alcohol.
In February 2017, the Times Sunday newspaper
in Swaziland reported shortages of food and toilet paper in jails throughout
the kingdom. This was due to the government’s financial crisis, it said.
In May 2017, the United
Nations Human
Rights Committee (HRC) questioned the
Swazi Government about prison conditions focusing on, ‘reports
of inhumane prison conditions, including in terms of food shortages and
inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care.’
In 2014 it was reported that more than 1,000
people were in jail in Swaziland because they were too poor
to pay fines for offences such as traffic violations, theft by false pretences,
malicious injury to property and fraud.
The figures revealed that in Swaziland, where seven in
ten people live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 per day, 1,053 of
3,615 inmates in Swazi jails were there because they did not have the money to
pay a fine option. This was 29.1 percent of the entire prison population.
See also
PROBE INTO ‘INHUMANE’ JAIL CONDITIONS
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/probe-into-inhumane-jail-conditions.html
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