THE COUNTRY MEETINGS AND PRISONS Bamako Covering an approximate area of 1,241,000,000 sq. km, Mali is one of the two biggest countries in West Africa with a population of about 10 million. It became independent in 1960 under its first President Modibo Keita. He was overthrown in a coup d'etat in 1968. Imprisoned after his overthrow Modibo Keita spent the rest of his life in detention giving up the ghost in 1977. The military officer who took over power Moussa Traore was himself overthrown after a long reign of 23 years, and is now in prison after conviction of crimes. 108 people had been killed and 708 injured when his security forces brutally suppressed demonstrators seeking democracy. His first head of government, Capt. Yoro Diakite died in detention in 1973. Mrs. Keita spent time in prison after the overthrow of her husband, and Mrs. Traore is in detention. Also in detention were Almany Sylla, leader of the Opposition and some of his colleagues following allegations of their involvement in the death of a security personnel. About 4000 people are in prisons in Mali. The conditions under which people are imprisoned or detained must, therefore, be of concern to the low and high alike in Mali as elsewhere. In a statemanlike fashion, General Amadou Toumani Toure who became the new head of State after Moussa Traore organised a constitutional referendum, municipal and presidential elections in just over a year; and handed over power to the winner of the presidential election, Alpha Oumar Konare. He is still the Head of State after recent elections, aspects of which were questioned by the opposition. The government of President Konare identified education and health as priority areas and consequently allocated 24% and 7% respectively of the annual budget to these sectors. Conditions in prisons which were visited may indicate the attention which has been and should be paid to this subject by government. 21 August 1997 Direction Nationale de ?Administration Penitentiaire et de ?Education Surveillee (DNAPES2). At this headquarters of the prison administration the National Director and his Deputy named above briefed me about the penal regime in Mali and the problems his administration was encountering. Until 1990 the prison regime was governed by colonial legislation. DNAPES was established in 1990 under legislation. DNAPES consists of two divisions: The Division for Detention, Rehabilitation and Regulation; and CI) The Division of Supervised Education For financial reasons subdivisions provided for under the legislation have not been set up, an example of the gap between the letter of the law and practice. There are prisons termed «Maisons Centrales cl'Arret,» farm prisons known as «penitenciers agricoles» and a rehabilitation centre referred to as «Centre de Reeducation» which is situated at Bone and which is close to Bamako. Juveniles are kept at this Centre. Food Until 1993 feeding of prisoners posed a big problem to the administration. But in 1993/94 Parliament doubled the budgetary allocation for food. In Bamako central prison prisoners have three meals a day. In the rest of the prisons inmates were fed twice. The meals consist of millet, rice and beans; and occasionally maize. Maladministration is the big problem now, but as soon as such an issue is brought to the attention of the Director corrective action is taken. Illustrative of this stance is the dismissal of the registrar of Koulikoro prison two days earlier. While the food allocated to the prison there should have provided two meals a day for the prisoners there was a day when they had none. 2 Literal translation into English is National Direction of Prison Administration and Supervised Education.