Prisoners’ rights violated, association charges

Human rights violations are being committed in Cape Verdean prisons, a local human rights organisation charges in a book launched on Sunday, Portuguese radio reported. RDP-Africa said the book ‘Human rights in Cape Verdean prisons’, is based on a study which the Ze Moniz Association for Solidarity and Development (AZM) of Cape Verde conducted in the first four months of the year. AZM said the abuses were linked to violence, insufficient medical attention, unhygienic conditions and overcrowding. It proposed the immediate abolition of disciplinary cells, which it described as “absolutely unacceptable”, and appealed for the water problem that affects many prisons to be resolved as soon as possible. The book calls for a better relationship between civil society organizations and prisons. It also recommends the creation of an observatory to monitor the situation in prisons, the implementation of social reintegration programmes and the provision of better health care in prisons.