An inmate at a prison in Swaziland (eSwatini) was allegedly
killed by warders during a riot involving gang members.
It happened on Tuesday night (9 June 2020) at the Sidwashini correctional
facility in the Swazi capital Mbabane.
The dead man was 25 years old and serving a three-year
sentence for grievous bodily harm and another three-month sentence for
malicious damage to property.
The Times
of eSwatini reported that the
man allegedly died at the hands of prison officers. This has not been confirmed
by prison authorities.
In a statement His
Majesty's Correctional Services said there had been a riot and members of a group
known as the 28 Gang attacked non-gang members. Prison officers intervened and prisoners
threw missiles at them, including water taps and pipes. Officers used batons to
protect themselves.
The statement said, ‘Some of the inmates sustained
injuries as they stumbled on each other during the scuffle with one inmate
later succumbing to death having being taken to Mbabane Government Hospital.’
The poor conditions at Sidwashini were highlighted in April
2019 in
testimony from a former
inmate. The 27-year-old prodemocracy activist charged with
terrorism offences in the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III,
reported being ‘beaten and tortured’.
He spent four years at Sidwashini before a judge
acquitted and discharged him in 2014.
The man’s experience was reported by Prison
Insider, which publishes testimonials from people who have been or are
currently in prison.
The former inmate who was not named said, ‘I shared a
cell with about 35 to 40 other prisoners, it was packed beyond its capacity,
overcrowded as is the case with prisons here. The only furniture in the cell
were our thin sleeping mats and blankets, separated with only about
30-centimetre space between each of them. The windows in the cells were so high
up, prisoners could only see the outside of the cell by climbing onto a
support, for example several blankets piled up.’
In September 2018 Swaziland’s Correctional Services revealed
that the total prison population in the kingdom was 3,453, which exceeded
the prison system’s designed capacity by 615 inmates.
The former inmate said, ‘In Swaziland, untried prisoners are kept under lock 24 hours a day. We
did not have the luxury of going out like the convicted prisoners. It was
extremely mentally challenging to be locked up all day.’
He said inmates were kept in unheated cells, even
during freezing weather. Breakfast was thin maize porridge four times a week
and bread with black tea three times a week.
Prisoners were counted by warders three times a day. ‘The humiliating part about the counting was
that we were forced to squat in rows of five.’
The former inmate said, ‘Some mornings were disrupted
by random searches. This experience was humiliating, lots of verbal and
sometimes physical assaults. I saw prison officers severely assault and
humiliate fellow prisoners during night searches. They took the unlucky ones to
the isolation cells, where they were beaten and exposed to further degrading
treatment.’
There have been other reports about poor conditions at
Sidwashini. In December 2017 a suspect
told a magistrate that inmates there were ‘frequently assaulted’.
The Swazi Observer reported at the time the suspect whom it only
named as Masuku, ‘said he suffered bruises on his body due to the heavy beating
he was subjected to by the officers’.
In January 2018 there were
reports of disturbances in jails in Swaziland with inmates accused of
brutality against warders. It was reported that new inmates had formed gangs
and warders from jails across the kingdom had been moved to two institutions at
Sidwashini and Bhalekane to increase security.
There were at least two incidents where inmates rioted
because they were served with poor food. These were at Sidwashini and
Bhalekane. At
Sidwashini, media in Swaziland reported, untrained warders were sent in to
help restore peace. At Bhalekane one warder had to be taken to hospital after
an alleged attack.
In 2017 the United Nations Human Rights Committee
(HRC) stepped
up investigations into prison conditions in Swaziland amid reports of
inhumane conditions. They included food shortages, inadequate sanitary
conditions and medical care.
See also
Jail
disturbances across Swaziland
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/01/jail-disturbances-across-swaziland.html
Jail inmates ‘beaten frequently’
Jail inmates ‘beaten frequently’
Swazi
jail riot over no bread
Probe
into corruption at Swazi jail
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