At least 17 prisoners have died over the past week due to lack of food and medicine as well as poor hygiene in Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest prison, according to aid workers.
State officials say the Makala prison in the capital, Kinshasa has received no food supplies in the last month.
“It’s terrible! People are dying almost every day,” a prison official who did not want to be named told the BBC.
More than 8,000 inmates rely on their families to bring them meals due to the food shortage in the prison.
The prison is also seriously overcrowded with more than five times the number of inmates it was meant to hold.
According to non-governmental organizations, around 100 prisoners are gravely ill and close to death because of the very poor conditions in the facility.
DRV’s deputy prime minister of justice told local media that Makala had now received some funding to help improve conditions.
“It’s true, there was a delay in paying suppliers and this explains the break in supplies,” Celestin Tunda Ya Kasende told AFP, adding, “the situation was put to rights” on Monday.
The report of the 17 deaths in the prison were made by the Bill Clinton Foundation for peace, which has no relation to the same named Clinton Foundation set up by the former US president.
Last year, it was reported that 40 inmates had died in similar circumstances over an 18-month period in another prison in DR Congo.
