Mozambique admits prison failings

Mozambican authorities admit they’ve failed to monitor conditions in the country’s dangerously overcrowded jails.

Until last year Mozambique’s prison facilities housed just over 18,700 inmates, against an installed capacity of 8,500.

Prison infrastructure has not seen any change in recent years, while there are high levels of corruption in the justice administration system.

António Boene – the chairman of Mozambique’s parliamentary commission on constitutional affairs, human rights and legality – told colleagues at a round table discussion on Thursday that they cannot simply wait for the government’s signal to create conditions to decongest the jails.

MP Elias Impuiri of the opposition Democratic Movement of Mozambique has called for alternatives to prison sentences to make facilities less crowded.

By BBC