Shocking death statistics in Lesotho’s prisons

Mathatisi Sebusi

A SIGNIFICANT number of inmates have died in Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS)’s facilities nationwide due to insufficient medical care and unfavourable living conditions.

According to LCS records, 68 inmates died in incarceration between 2017 and 2023.

Out of the 68 deceased inmates, 94 percent have been reported to have died of natural causes while the remaining 6 percent’s cause of death remains unknown.

These revelations are contained in Ombudsman, Advocate Tlotliso Polaki’s recently released  report on the condition of Lesotho’s prisons and hospitals titled ‘Hospitals, Human Rights Inspection Reports’.

The report highlights issues concerning human rights violations in correctional facilities, including inhumane living conditions, underfeeding, inadequate ablution facilities, poor ventilation, poor healthcare services, lack of sanitation and privacy, and shortage of mattresses and blankets.

As a result, Advocate Polaki has noted in her report, that correctional facilities are “hothouses for sexual violence and disease transmission including HIV, tuberculosis, and scabies”.

Her report also states that 50% of the facilities are characterised by over-crowding, and, in most cells, there was more than twice the holding capacity with Mohale’s Hoek, Mokhotlong and Leribe being exceptions.

The Office of the Ombudsman first established the derelict state of Lesotho’s hospitals and prisons while under the stewardship of  Justice Tséliso Mokoko, who had since been elevated to the High Court.  His successor, Advocate Polaki, undertook a follow-up inspection in January this year, which was concluded in July.

In her report, Advocate Polaki states that the deceased were inmates serving their life sentences but died as a result of unfavourable living conditions including poor medical care.

The report states that access to adequate and comprehensive health care for inmates is limited and highly compromised in some facilities, and that inmates were reported to have easily and regularly contracted communicable diseases such as common cold, tuberculosis and coronavirus due to poor hygiene practices.

The cells, the report notes, are sometimes infested with bed bugs and lice. The over-congestion exacerbates the problem even further.

“Insufficient supply of drugs and medical instruments to treat detainees has also been highlighted as a challenge. While most facilities have health facilities in place, they are poorly stocked and manned with inmates being given Paracetamol for all ailments irrespective of the seriousness of illnesses,” the report reads.

“The challenge remains with inmates who fall sick outside the normal hours of operation as the medical nurses do not reside near the correctional institutions. Inmates reported that there are delays in getting medical assistance which led to some inmates dying in the cells. This compromises the quality of health care services deemed necessary for their well-being.”

The report also touched on the daily food insecurity faced by inmates, who are not having balanced meals to the extent that there has been an outbreaks of pellagra disease in facilities like Mafeteng.

Pellagra is a disease caused by low levels of niacin, also known as vitamin B-3. It’s marked by dementia, diarrhoea, and dermatitis, also known as “the three Ds”. If left untreated, pellagra can be fatal.

The report says inmates are served porridge (sometimes without sugar) for breakfast, while hard porridge (pap) with beans or peas are served for lunch and dinner daily all year round. They only have varieties of eggs, vegetables, milk, and meat on Christmas Day.

It further states that in some, facilities inmates reported that they were not fed on time and had to take their medication on empty stomachs.

Before compiling the report, Advocate Polaki and her team visited all LCS facilities nationwide and spent weeks touring these facilities to inspect the state under which inmates were kept and assess what improvements could be made by the Ministry of Justice, Law, and Parliamentary Affairs.

“Despite many efforts undertaken to conform, the current conditions in Lesotho’s correctional facilities, still fail to meet the minimum standards established in national and international legislations and declarations. The only right that inmates should honestly be deprived of is liberty, whereas their rights to dignity, bodily integrity, and the right to be protected from any cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment must be upheld in a constitutional democracy. The conditions represent serious breaches of rights enshrined in the Constitution 1993,” reads the report.

Advocate Polaki further touched on overcrowding, a common challenge in Lesotho’s prisons which has been attributed to delayed justice in relation to detainees awaiting trial for prolonged periods, and those already serving their sentences.

“The population at Maseru correctional facility was 615 while the capacity of inmates to be accommodated is 500 inmates. A standard cell has a capacity to house 10 inmates in Maseru; however, it accommodated on average 15 inmates,” said the report.

It was observed that the category of inmates causing serious overcrowding in most facilities, are detainees in remand and awaiting trial who are unable to raise bail money and “others who have waited for years to have their cases mentioned or finalised in court”.

The duration of time taken to process court matters was also lengthy, contributing to overcrowding. Inmates further raised concerns around delays in the justice system to speed up  prosecutions and failure to deliver  judgments.

“This calls for a re-engineering of the criminal justice system to ensure and assist in fast tracking some of the cases which have taken long to be resolved,” Advocate Polaki said.

She again said that the overcrowding placed a strain on the already limited prisons budget, in turn placing a huge burden on the facilities as resources had to be shared equally among the inmates.

The bundled report also placed focus on lapse in standards characterized by poor state of buildings, poor hygiene, sanitation, and health conditions.

The Ombudsman said through their investigations, they had established that many of the facilities were old and dilapidated, with leaking roofs, broken windows, and cracked walls.

She said most structures required total demolition and reconstruction as they do not conform to international standards.

Due to leaking roofs, inmates’ bedding was often wet and on rainy days, they were forced to shift or stand by the walls.

“The (prison) buildings were almost all built during the colonial era, and not much effort has been put in ensuring that there is new infrastructure development given the risks they pose. To mention but a few, the Juvenile Training Centre (JTC), the Maseru Female Correctional Facility, Berea, Quthing and Qacha’s Nek prisons are in a worse off condition, in a state of disrepair, have to be rendered inhabitable as they pose a threat to lives should the structures collapse,” the report reads.

Water shortage was also identified as a challenge in most facilities where inmates were unable to take proper baths, and where there was water, it was cold forcing inmates to use firewood to heat the water.

Shortage of toiletries has also been highlighted as a concern leading inmates to depend on their families and people of goodwill for donations.

“In some facilities, toilets were broken, pipes leaking and not repaired due to lack of funds. As a result, at Qacha’ s Nek, Berea, Quthing and Leribe, inmates had to use buckets at night,” reads the report.

Torture and ill-treatment had commonly been used in the facilities to instill discipline. Inmates complained of torture in the form of beatings or whipping, punching, slapping, physical assault and injuries, and psychological abuse inflicted on them through solitary confinement, often resorted to as a disciplinary measure  by officers and fellow inmates.

In a recent interview with the Lesotho Times, LCS Chief Officer (CO) Bokang Ramotena said the issue of food shortages and lack of clothes and congestion in cells was not new.

She said some prisoners wore torn clothes resulting in cracked skin due to the lack of proper clothing and cosmetics, adding that they had reached a point where LCS officers borrowed prisoners their own clothes when they have to appear in court.

CO Ramotena said due to financial constraints in the LCS, the notion of balanced, adequate meals was a dream far-fetched for prisoners.

She  confirmed that there was congestion in cells caused by many arrests of suspects as a result of the high crimes rates prevailing in the country.

“Prisoners get imprisoned at a very high rate compared to the rate at which they are being released. Remember it is the courts’ discretion to decide who gets released when and how,” she said.

CO Ramotena said the issue should be addressed by offering speed trials to prisoners, who have been in prison for more than 60 days.

But CO Ramotena strongly denied allegations of torture contained in the Ombudsman’s  report, saying no prisoner has ever written to her office reporting a case of torture.

She said Lesotho had moved from imprisoning inmates to rehabilitating them. They were also capacitated with various  skills to enable them to “start on a clean slate and build a life for themselves” upon release.

However, the country’s dire economic situation was hampering full rehabilitation as jails had insufficient resources.

“When inmates arrive at a correctional service, they are given counselling and asked what career path they want to explore. After deciding, they get capacitated as per their chosen career including, but not limited to, motor mechanical engineering, electrical installation, welding, bricklaying, dressmaking, and hairdressing among others,” CO Ramotena said.

She said illiterate inmates were empowered by being taught how to read and write, in addition to equipping them with skills  like sewing and carpentry, while female prisoners were taught catering, plastic recycling, and fashion design.