Search Results for: prison overcrowding

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) released 1685 mostly ill inmates from the country’s largest prison on Sunday amid ongoing efforts to reduce overcrowding at the facility. The release from Makala Central Prison was announced by Minister of Justice Constant Mutamba to local media, which reported that the sick inmates were released due to [...]

The justice minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Constant Mutamba, announced the conditional release of 648 inmates from the country’s largest prison on Saturday amid efforts to ease overcrowding. The 648 prisoners released with parole conditions included 73 adults and eight juveniles. Makala Central Prison, built in 1957, is designed to accommodate [...]

Constant Mutamba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Minister of Justice, has been poisoned, according to a statement from the Ministry of State on Saturday. The minister underwent medical tests that morning after scientific police suspected poison exposure in his office. During their investigation, the police discovered a white powder on office furniture and equipment, [...]

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s interior minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango announced on Tuesday that 129 people were killed in an attempt to escape Makala Central Prison. Tenty-four people were killed by gunfire after allegedly failing to heed warnings; the remaining deceased reportedly died by crushing or suffocation. Fifty-nine others were also injured during the [...]

UN human rights experts raised concerns Wednesday regarding the treatment of journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, who has been imprisoned in Guatemala for nearly two years, claiming that Zamora is being held in potentially life-threatening and inhumane conditions that could amount to torture. The experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, [...]

The UK Ministry of Justice reactivated a temporary measure known as “Operation Early Dawn” on Monday to manage heightened prison overcrowding, aggravated by recent far-right riots across the country. The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) activated Operation Early Dawn to help alleviate pressure on prisons in regions such as North East and Yorkshire, Manchester, [...]

The justice minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Constant Mutamba, announced on Saturday the release of 527 prisoners from the central prison of Makala, DRC on X (formerly Twitter). Mutamba delivered 2,000 mattresses and ordered 7,000 mattresses to improve the detention conditions of prisoners, and said that prisoners in the DRC eat two [...]

A report released Tuesday by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem featured allegations of systematic abuse and torture of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities. The report, titled “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps,” is based on interviews with 55 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and [...]

The Telegraph newspaper reported Saturday that UK courts will operate for 24 hours to expedite prosecutions of those involved in a number of riots that have ravaged several UK cities. This measure follows urgent meetings between senior ministers and judiciary members aimed at promptly addressing the violence through severe legal ramifications. In a statement on [...]

What does the new Labour Government have in store for the UK, and what policy changes can we expect will have the most meaningful impact? As was recently argued in an Chatham House publication, the newly formed UK government led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer brings together a team of legal experts well-versed in [...]