24 25 There being no water in the prison, it was fetched from outside. 4 juveniles were among the 36 inmates, and the convicts mixed among those on remand. Practices To Avoid One of the inmates was in leg irons or chained by the legs, but in my presence he was unchained. The Registrar explained that the poor state of the prison made escape easy. and so strong preventive measures like chaining was resorted to. The chained prisoner had tried to escape on two occasions. The prisoners complained that their visitors had not been allowed to see them. They also complained about lack of mats and blankets as well as the quality of food served (2 to 3 meals per day). They had no soap, and what ICRC brought for their use had not all been distributed (e.g. out of 36 blankets brought only a few were in the cells). The remand prisoners also complained about the slow nature of the judicial system. On inquiry, the Registrar responded that he had been queried about slack security measures, and had therefore demanded authorisation from the Prosecutor before visits. This had not, it appeared, been explained to the visitors. I took up the issue of family visits with the Prosecutor who was not aware of the recent developments in the prison. He promised to facilitate the visits, and asked the Registrar in the presence of us three to do the same. Detention of Women For the reasons stated above, women could not be detained in the prison. The authorities hesitated in arresting women because of the space problem. If arrested and detained for short periods, they were kept with the guards at the entrance of the prison, and not inside with the male inmates. In the case of longer detention for female, they were accommodated in the house of the head of the guards. The authorities endeavoured to release female detainees as soon as it was possible to do so. Goundam 26 August 1997 This town is situated 95km south cast of Tombouctou. I had discussions with Tiecoura Malle, Magistrate and Justice of the Peace who had assumed duty there 6 months previously. As «Juge de paix» he acted as Chairman of the court and examining magistrate. He was the investigator, prosecutor and judge. He presided over a Magistrate Court Grade I. Justices of the peace are to be found in remote areas. Due to budgetary constraints the Ministry of Justice could not appoint more magistrates, prosecutors and examining judges. He informed me that he visited the prison once a week. At the time of my visit there were 7 detainees, 2 convicts, 1 on remand and 4 who had been arrested the previous day and were being kept in the prison because the police post had no cells. The remand period did not exceed one month in his jurisdiction. Criminality was low but had gone up slightly at the start of the farming season over disputes about land and crops. He also acted as mediator and conciliator to limit the number of detainees. In 1992 Goundam was attacked by the Tuaregs. The judge and the prison guards were killed. The prisoners escaped and the military camp where the prison was located was destroyed except the prison building which itself did not entirely escape damage. The military camp was abandoned, and rebuilt further away. The prison is, however, still being used. Problems It is easy to escape from the prison because of its low structure. There were no toilets, buckets were used and emptied outside the prison. There was no telephone line connected to Goundam. The visit was, therefore, a surprise one. Brigade of Gendarmerie The gendarmerie did not have a cell and prisoners who had to he sent to police cells were sent to the prison. They were not kept beyond 72 hours.