II. Ethiopian Prison Structure The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, as the name suggests, is a federation made up of semi-autonomous regions or states. The Regions are established on the basis of the settlement patterns, ethnic composition, language, identity and consent of the people in each locality. There are nine autonomous federated regions of the federation, while Addis Ababa and Dire-Dawa are federal administrative regions. Each Region has its own basic laws and regulations, which has to conform to the Ethiopian Federal Constitution of 1995 – Regulation No 1 of 1995. Prison administration was also governed along federal lines, with federal prisons and regional prisons having autonomous regulations. Prisons in Ethiopia have been inherited first, from the imperial era and later from the brief Italian administration. Prior to the Italian occupation from 1935 to 1943, there was only one prison in the country – in Addis Ababa – constructed by Emperor Segnito in the early 20th Century. In modern Ethiopia, the prison regime has been shaped by three main legal instruments: - Proclamation No. 44 of 1945 The Imperial Penal Code of 1957 Proclamation No. 365 of 2003 on the establishment of a Federal Prison Commission The above instruments, together with Proclamation No. 1 of 1995 - the Federal Constitution of the FDRE, provide for the establishment and management of prisons including the treatment of prisoners. Prison administration is at two levels – the federal as well as the regional level. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia with a land size of over 1,127,127 Sq Km and a population of over 72 million inhabitants has over 63,000 prisoners held in 171 prisons. a) Federal Prison administration As a federation of eleven regions, the government has given some measure of autonomy to the different regions to manage their own affairs, including the criminal justice system. Among the eleven regions, two – Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa – are federal regions, that have the jurisdiction to deal with federal matters. Like all other regions, they also manage prisons and prisoners. Certain crimes such as genocide, inciting ethnic conflicts and crimes committed by foreigners are tried in federal courts and convicted persons detained in federal prisons. There are also prisoners in federal prisons for alleged terrorism, especially persons purporting to be members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a group fighting for an independent Oromo State. It is also possible to transfer prisoners from federal prisons to regional prisons to serve their sentences there, if they so request. 7 Report of the Mission of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons to Ethiopia 15 – 29 March 2004