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Viewing cable 07KINSHASA953, A TALE OF TWO PRISONS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07KINSHASA953 2007-08-09 08:02 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Kinshasa
VZCZCXRO5526
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0953/01 2210802
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 090802Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6686
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000953 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CG
SUBJECT: A TALE OF TWO PRISONS 
 
1.  Summary. Prisons in the DRC are barely functional.  The 
directors of the Bukavu and Kinshasa prisons say their 
biggest challenges include crumbling buildings, overcrowding, 
lack of food and medical care, and no salaries.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Bukavu Prison: Where the Director Lives in a Cell 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
2.  The Central Prison of Bukavu, in the South Kivu 
provincial capital, was built in 1928 and has not been 
rehabilitated since.  PolOff and DRL Human Rights Officer 
visited it June 28.  Walls and roofs sometimes fall on 
detainees, and the toilets quit functioning years ago.  The 
prison has a capacity of 700, but many sections, including 
those for minors, are no longer being used as detention 
facilities.  Instead, police use cells as offices, and the 
prison director and his family of nine share two cells in the 
former European cell block.  The 489 prisoners share a dozen 
large chambers in which they are grouped by gender.  Nearly 
two thirds of those in the prison are in pre-trial detention 
and have not gone before a judge. 
 
3.  Prison Director Emmanuel Amisi told us the prison had not 
had a food budget since 1987.  The detainees survive on 
donations from family and churches.  When donations are 
sufficient, prisoners are fed once per day at 10 a.m.  Amisi 
said he has allowed detainees to gather wood for cooking from 
a nearby forest, but some have escaped in the process.  The 
prison has little medicine, and none for the most common 
illnesses, such as malaria.  There is no prison vehicle to 
transfer prisoners to the hospital, no money to pay for their 
care, and no personnel to guard them during their 
hospitalization. 
 
4.  Amisi and the police and soldiers who serve as guards at 
the prison are essentially volunteers.  None have been paid 
in more than two years.  Amisi and his family live at the 
prison not only because he cannot pay for lodging in town but 
because he has repeatedly received death threats blaming him 
for prison escapes. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Kinshasa Prison:  Something to Eat, but Little Else 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5.  The Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Center of Kinshasa 
(CPRK) is newer and larger than the prison in Bukavu.  Built 
in 1958, it has eleven wings and a capacity of 1,500 
detainees.  The actual population, however, is 4,057, over 
half of which are military.  Although women and children are 
held separately from men, military and civilian populations 
are mixed, as are pre-trial detainees and already convicted 
prisoners.  Prison Director Dido Kitungwa told us July 3 that 
most of that of 213 prisons in the DRC, only three are 
military.  Fewer than 100 of the prisons are functioning; the 
rest are essentially in ruins. 
 
6.  CPRK is the only Congolese prison with a budget for food. 
 A local NGO provides water to sustain a small garden within 
the institution, but a prisoner told us that food is 
insufficient.  Families supplement the meager prison food 
supply. (Note:  A riot broke out in the prison in 2006 when 
family visits were temporarily halted.  End note.) Sanitation 
is substandard, and Kitungwa told us prisoners are sick "all 
the time."  For example, in the women's quarter, which houses 
127 women and infants, there are four toilets.  Kitungwa said 
the women often suffer from skin and vaginal infections and 
typhoid.  As in Bukavu, the prison has no cars to transport 
the sick to hospitals and no regular visits by doctors. 
 
7.  Although Kitungwa receives a small salary, most of the 
guards are not paid regularly.  This makes them vulnerable to 
corruption, according to Kitungwa  The prison has only 50 
staff, and most are not trained.  The more than 3,000 
visitors each day go directly into the cells to visit 
prisoners, and attempted rapes and assaults are regularly 
reported. 
 
8.  Kitungwa told us he was well aware of international norms 
and standards for prisons but could not apply them due to 
overcrowding.  He said the Netherlands planned to provide 
funding to rehabilitate Ndolo, the military prison in 
Kinshasa and hoped that all 2,000 soldiers currently 
incarcerated at CPRK could be moved there.  He lamented the 
lack of donor interest in prisons because "problems with 
prisons lead to problems with impunity." 
 
KINSHASA 00000953  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Comment:  Nothing to Hide, Everything to Gain 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
9.  Prisons in the DRC are in such deplorable condition that 
penitentiary employees are eager to show-and-tell to any 
potential international donor that visits.  They open cell 
doors and invite prisoners to tell their stories.  Budgets 
are clearly inadequate to realize any significant 
improvements.  Charged with the care of society's lowest 
rung, the best chance prison directors have is to plead for 
assistance along with their detainees. End comment. 
MEECE