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Unacceptable conditions in Guinean prisons

Prisoners in Guinean prisons suffer from malnutrition, respiratory illnesses and live in unhygienic conditions, according to a February 2009 MSF report Julie Rémy/MSF
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    Prisons in Guinea are failing to provide basic food, water, health care and hygiene to inmates, according to “Unacceptable conditions in Guinean prisons,” a report by medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) that surveyed four facilities.



    In Guéckédou prison in southeastern Guinea one in three adult male prisoners suffered from malnutrition and one in five from severe acute malnutrition, according to MSF’s research.



    MSF staff said “appalling” sanitation conditions in Guéckédou had led to dehydration in 42 percent of prisoners and widespread skin and respiratory infections, including tuberculosis, which had gone untreated.



    In many cases only buckets placed in cells were available for defecation and were only infrequently emptied, according to the report. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve washed myself two times – in nine months,” one prisoner told MSF.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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