Congo Prison break Suffered 129 Deaths
An attempted jailbreak in Congo’s main prison left 129 people dead, which includes some who were shot and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, authorities said Tuesday.
Prisoners tried to break out from the Makal Central Prison in the capital, Kinshasa, at around 2 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) on Monday, Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango told the press.
“The provisional human toll stands at 129 dead including 24 by gunshot after warning. The others died by jostling, suffocation and some women were raped,” Bihango said. He added that 59 people were receiving medical care.
Bihango did not elaborate on the incidents of rape. The prison holds both male and female inmates.
Additionally, it was unclear if all 129 deaths were inmates and how the stampede started.
Makala, Congo’s largest penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, currently holds over 12,000 inmates, with most of them awaiting trial, according to Amnesty International’s latest country report.
According to local residents, gunfire inside the prison started around midnight on Sunday and lasted into Monday morning.
In a statement on Monday, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba condemned the prison break attempt as a “pre-meditated act of sabotage.”
Mutamba’s deputy, Samuel Mbemba Kabuya, blamed the country’s magistrates and judges for the overcrowding in prisons, claiming people are quickly jailed at the early stages of their trial.
To reduce the overcrowding, Mutamba announced a ban on the transfer of inmates from Makala and pledged that authorities will build a new prison.
The prison has seen previous jailbreaks occur, including in 2017 when members of a religious cult stormed the prison and freed dozens of inmates.
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