Prison conditions improve, but not fast enough

Sitting at a desk in a bare classroom, Erasmo Massingue looked like a typical student in his faded blue jeans. "I'd like to go to university and study economics after I finish school," he said, grinning broadly. "I'd like to be an economist." Massingue is a long way from his wish. He is only in grade 10 at secondary school, despite his 22 years, because he interrupted his education to supplement the income of his mother, who was supporting him and his four brothers and sisters. "I had to drop out of school for one year to see if I could get the right conditions to study again," he said. He managed to get a job from a Mozambican businessman, driving a van carrying goods from neighbouring South Africa. That is when it all went wrong. He was involved in a car accident in which two passengers in the other car were killed. "One person died straightaway and the other died in hospital. The owner of my car had not paid for any insurance." After the accident Massingue returned to school, but this time in Machava male prison in the capital, Maputo. "The lessons make a difference, and keep me going. It helps me to pass the time. But it was an accident. I shouldn't be here." Although he has already gone to court three times, he has still not had a hearing, and the owner of the car he was driving has vanished. "Each time the judge or someone did not show up, and they sent me back. I've been in prison now for one year and one month." He had no idea when his case would come up again. "I try to put up with the weight of prison, but it is not easy," he said. His mother, who lives in Maxixe town some 1,000 km north of Maputo in Inhambane province, makes the journey once a month for a two-hour visit. She is his only visitor. Although the prison community in Mozambique is one of the smallest in Africa, the numbers are growing and conditions are still dismal. Efforts have been made to improve the penal system under a Ministry of Justice programme supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), but funds are limited. "There are still too many huge priorities, including improving the infrastructure, sanitation, health care, education, and reducing the overcrowding. If the prisons are so full, and most inmates are not judged, then you don't know how to plan," Aires Amaral, the director of the UNDP-supported programme, told IRIN. Machava prison can accommodate 800 prisoners, but holds almost three times that number. Most of the inmates, like Massingue, have not yet appeared in court. Of the current Machava prison population of 2,010, as many 1,600 are on remand. Most of the men are poor, barely literate, under 25 years old and being detained for allegedly committing petty offences. By the time they are tried, some of those found guilty will have served more than their sentence - a common situation throughout the country. Detainees often wait for months, and sometimes years, before they even get charged, although the law stipulates that a person should be charged within 48 hours of detention. If the detainees are condemned, the sentences for petty offences are unfairly harsh, commented one government official who declined to be named. Abilio Nascimento, one of the teachers at the Machava prison school, agrees. He gets to know the stories of lots of the inmates he teaches. "Many of these people should not be in prison," Nascimento believes. He teaches eighth and ninth grade biology, starting his first shift at eight in the morning and only finishing after ten at night. Like most schools in Mozambique, Nascimento's classes are full, with some 60 pupils in each class. Half the 900 pupils in the school are prisoners, the rest come from the surrounding communities outside the prison. Some of the teachers, including Nascimento, are also inmates. "The inmates and the students from outside all mingle well together. There is never any problem." Although he pleaded innocent, Nascimento was found guilty of forging a cheque to purchase 20 litres of stolen paint and being in possession of stolen goods. His cousin, who stole the paint and was living with him at the time, maintained in court that Nascimento had had nothing to do with the crime. Each of them received an eight-year prison sentence. He has now served three years, during which visits from his wife and 12-year-old daughter, and his teaching, have kept his morale up. "During the day it is reasonable, but at night it hurts," Nascimento said. At night all the prisoners are locked in their cells. A few of the cell blocks have been rehabilitated, but they are still claustrophobically overcrowded. Some of the inmates sleep on the floor in the corridors, while others sleep in bunk beds without mattresses in stuffy communal cells. In one unrehabilitated block, some of the cells had broken pipes and taps, and the stench from the communal toilet was overpowering. Health care remains a major concern, especially with the impact of HIV/AIDS. About 12 percent of Mozambique's adult population are infected with the virus, and prison conditions increase the chances of an HIV-positive person contracting AIDS-related illnesses. When prisoners fall sick they are referred to the small but clean health post in the prison. When IRIN visited, the nurse on duty was Joana Henriqueta, working in a prison for the first time: "It is a little difficult, as I was a bit frightened, but they [the inmates] come with a warden." She suspected that many of the illnesses she treated were related to poor sanitation, since the majority of ailments were skin diseases and diarrhoea. The Ministry of Justice, UNDP and the European Union are currently working on a new accord for penal reform, scheduled for signature in January 2004. Despite the challenges ahead, Luis Alberto Tsucana, the director of Machava prison, said he has seen some improvements. These included the school now being officially recognised by the government as a public school, and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for some of the very sick HIV-positive inmates. Currently around eight inmates are receiving ARVs under a programme supported by the Santo Edigio, an Italian NGO. Tsucana is particularly pleased with the success of literacy classes for inmates aged 16 to 21 and the prison school. "The students are very enthusiastic," said Tsucana. "Some of the prisoners who are released after completing their prison sentences return to our school to continue their studying." Massingue, however, was worried. There was no teacher for the 11th grade in the prison, so next year, the very thing he said had kept him going all these months, might come to an end.