Enough is enough

Many nations worldwide incarcerate more people than their prisons can accommodate. The lack of food, care, activities and work affects the daily lives of prisoners. Prison administrations fail to provide decent living conditions for their prisoners.

In Guinea, the Conakry prison has 1,600 prisoners despite having a capacity of under 400. Access to food is not guaranteed. Prisoners are dying of malnutrition and undernourishment. Non-governmental organisations are developing programmes to compensate for inadequate daily rations. In the Philippines, the Quezon City prison has over 4,000 prisoners for a capacity of 800. At night, prisoners sleep on the basketball court and in the corridors, due to insufficient space.

Overcrowding compromises everyone’s safety. It goes against all international standards. In the Comoros, the Moroni prison mixes sex offenders with political prisoners and minors. In Togo, the separation between adults and minors is also ineffective, leaving the latter vulnerable to violence, mistreatment and abuse.

Haiti’s national prison in Port-au-Prince holds four times its capacity, with 10% of prisoners suffering from tuberculosis. Overcrowding makes it impossible to isolate them or provide proper medical treatment.

The average unincarcerated European lives in a 102-square-metre home. Figures are similar in France. At the Toulouse-Seysses prison, three people share an 11-square-metre cell, with mattresses placed on the floor. Personal space is reduced to less than 2 square metres.

The prison is unsanitary. Bedbugs and rats are rampant. At night, prisoners stuff toilet paper in their ears to keep cockroaches out.