PRISON VISITS 23 December 1997 Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior. (iv)H.E. Almerinho Manhenji, Minister of Interior was unable to attend the meeting scheduled for the above date. The Secretary-General of the ministry, Armando Mario Correia therefore deputised for him. I informed him of two important concerns which must be treated as matters of priority and given the necessary attention: juveniles and pre-trial detention. Juveniles I expressed the concern that if nothing was done about persons whose conduct was excused on account of their age (under 16), many of them were likely to walk straight into jail when they reached the age of criminal responsibility. In response the Secretary-General stated that prevention programmes had been established with the ministries of Justice, Culture and Health with the aim of helping juveniles who had been made orphans by the war not to get involved in criminal activity. However not much had come out of this initiative. It was also stated that there was a court which protected the interest of minors when their parents were divorced. A tribunal also acted as a mediator between the victims of "crimes" of "juveniles" and the families of the latter. 16 December 1997 Maputo Central Prison (Under the Ministry of Justice) Located in the northern section of Maputo, the prison has buildings which house the administration, the kitchen and workshops. Gardens, fruit trees and other trees adorn its large compound. Present at a meeting which preceded a visit to the cells and other parts of the prison were: (a) The Director, Mr. Aruerico Abilio Parruque who had worked in the prison for the past 33 years, the last 7 of which had been as its Director in prison administration; (b) Mr. Jaime Ernesto Thane, Secretary; (c) Mr. Julio Sitoe, Chief of Guards; (d) Mr. Laurenco Magul, Assistant for Social Affairs; (e) Mr. Francisco Fulaho, Chief of penal control (discharge and discipline). Pre-trial detention The Secretan -General stated that the maximum period of detention for the purpose of irne'ugaoo11 was 84 days. However, the examining magistrate could extend the pet kid 01 detention in the case of serious offences. Prison officials were required by law to send sick detainees to hospital whenever it was necessary. Conditional release was possible in the case of those sentenced to less than 8 years imprisonment. Bail could also be granted at any stage of the criminal process, investigation and trial. Difficulties with transportation from Beira and Xai-Xai prevented me from honouring, on two occasions, meeting with the President of the Bar Association. (v) On 23 December, 1 had a meeting with NGOs and journalists who learned about the work of the Commission including my mandate. To the extent permissible, I briefed them about my work in Mozambique. i4 The prison was built in 1965 with a maximum capacity of 800 although at the time of the visit it housed 2059 prisoners, who were all male. As a result of limited space, women prisoners were kept in Maputo civil prison. 1018 of the inmates were awaiting trial. There were also 100 young adults. The youngest inmate was 17 years old while the oldest was 55. 180 guards man the prison. There were no political prisoners in Mozambique, I was informed. Although according to the regulations prisoners should be housed according to age group, type of offence and status (remand or convict) separately, it was difficult to implement the rules because of limited space. Food By law, three meals should be provided for each inmate everyday. Financial constraints have led to one meal being provided each day. It consists of maize flour, beans and sometimes fish and rice when the budget allocation permitted it. 15