HRC: Male’ Prison cells jam-packed with prisoners

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Some of the cells in Male’ Prison, where prisoners brought over from Maafushi Jail are temporarily held while in Male’ on medical leave or for other reasons, are jam-packed with prisoners, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has said.

The HRC had visited the Male’ Prison last month while conducting a survey to see if there were any human rights abuse issues in places where criminals were incarcerated and released the report of their findings last week. According to the report the maximum number of prisoners that can be kept in the Male’ Prison was 100 but during their visit to the Prison they had found that there were 148 prisoners incarcerated within the confines of the cells at Male’ Prison.

The report noted that due to overcrowding in the cells some of the prisoners were forced to sleep on the tiles. It also said that this led to lack of space for prisoners to move about in their cells. The report also said that in some of the cells designed to accommodate four people there were seven to nine prisoners.

“Two of the cells were designed to accommodate 24 people but in one cell there were 26 and in the other there were 27,” the report said.

The report also said that the No. 1 block, where prisoners who are brought from Maafushi Prison to be shown to doctors in Male’ are held temporarily, did not have drinking water, a toilet or a bed.

During their investigation the HRC officials also found out from the staff at the Male’ Prison that there were three people who were serving banishment sentences incarcerated in the Prison. The report also noted that hardcore criminals were also being kept together with those who were serving sentences for petty crimes.

The HRC’s report also highlighted the fact that those who were in the Male’ Prison were not given access to medical treatment as per the rules, that medications required by the prisoners were not provided to them regularly or punctually, and that on some occasions the medications were mixed-up by the staff and given to the wrong patients. The HRC also said that although the rules of the Prison stated that the prisoners should be released from their cells to allow them to walk about inside the Prison boundaries from time to time, the procedure had not been followed ever since the Prison was opened.

Other violations noted by the HRC are prisoners not being allowed to make their phone call, rainwater that falls into the corridors of the Prison seeping into the cells where prisoners are held, lack of privacy for those using the toilet and olfactory discomfort for the other occupants when the toilet is used.

The Commission said that after the visit they had submitted their recommendations for the changes needed at the Prison to the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS).

Among the recommended changes to be brought to the Prison are increasing the number of security staff and separating the prisoners brought to the Prison by the severity of their crimes. Some of the positive comments noted in the HRC’s report include the security measures at the gate to the Administrative Offices, the quality of the meals for the prisoners, and the overall cleanliness of the cells.