them were in detention, on such minor offences as stealing a hen or singlet. He
invited the Governor to come and see things for himself
There were 133 detainees in the cells who had been there for 16-30 days although
the legal limit was 48 hours.
Struck by the youth of most of the inmates in the remand cell, I inquired of how
many had parents. More than half said they had none, victims of the war
presumably. These orphans had no assistance from outside.
On arrival, the commander stated that suspects spent 40-60 days at the police
station before being transferred to the prison.
Foreigners
There were 2 Tanzanians among the remand prisoners.
Cell For Convicts
As in the case of the remand cell, the overcrowding here was such that the
prisoners could not sleep lying down, they Just sat up.
There was one senously ill prisoner lying on a veranda, who had not been taken
to hospital, and no one seemed to care. Death did not seem far away.
Cell 3
Punislimini
The saaction for infringement of regulations was confinement to disciplinary
cell. As a result of overcrowding, the disciplinary cell was used to accommodate
suspects.
Food
One meal a day was served.
Clothing
The inmates were supplied with uniforms.
Visits
Convicts were mixed up with remand prisoners. This cell was relatively spacious.
The inmates, 23, had responsibility for various tasks in the prison.
Twice in a month an inmate could receive visitors.
Female Cell
The Commander did not allow me to have any private discussion with any of the
inmates.
Of the 5 registered in the prison records, 3 had been sent to a prison farm, leaving
only 2 in the cell.
Cell A
The disciplinary cell had hardly a window Up to 5 people were sometimes
confined here though it was hard to how it could contain even 2 people.
It appeared to have faeces on the flood
Inmates complained that they removed faeces with their bare hands Another
complaint was that the uniforms were not washed although they were passed on
from inmate to inmate. Most of them slept on the bare floor. They also ate the
same food all the time.
First Squadron Police Station, Nampula
One inmate, who looked it, said he was 14 years old. Selemane Mussa said that
although he had been in custody for 4 days, he did not know what he had done.
There were 4 police stations in Nampula, and what I visited was the central one.
While waiting for permission to visit the cells, from the provincial commander, I
saw a 13 year old boy who had been arrested for selling cassette in the streets.
Onlookers said he had been there for over an hour, and predicted that the police
would seize the goods; and it came to pass. The boy was released without the
tapes. 2 other persons, apparently above the age of 16 were also at the police
station for a similar offence
30
31
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents