Are African jails safe?

African chains are in check again, with the death of João Rendeiro, the former president of Banco Privado Português (BPP), who was on the run from Portuguese justice for three months and was eventually caught in South Africa in December 2021, where was tried and ended up with a sentence of preventive detention.

The circumstances of the death, shrouded in strange (or not really) secrecy, are under investigation by local authorities at Westville Jail in Durban. But more, this death, under strange conditions, raises the question of the security of African prisons.

Suicide or murder?

João Rendeiro, was found dead, under strange circumstances, inside the cell in the Westville jail, in Durban, where he was being held in South Africa.

The information was advanced by Rendeiro's lawyer, June Marks, who, in addition to confirming the death, indicated that the inmate would have been found hanged in his cell, close to midnight on Thursday by prison guards.

According to her, despite Rendeiro being in a cell measuring 80 square meters with about 50 other inmates, his hanging was a suicide.

On the other hand, the South African Department of Prison Services reported that:

"An investigation was urgently launched to determine the cause and circumstances that led to the death of the inmate."

Rendeiro said he felt wronged and opposed the extradition request on the grounds that the penalty imposed on him was “manifestly disproportionate” and therefore he did not intend to return to Portugal.

The implications

If Portugal understands that there are other suspicions, in addition to the alleged suicide, it can ask for legal proceedings to be instituted against the prison itself, alleging the lack of protection conditions in the prison, since as a detainee, Rendeiro, was in the custody of the prison.

It is recalled that this prison is considered one of the most dangerous in South Africa and that the defense of João Rendeiro even asked in December, the transfer of the inmate to another prison in the country.

That request was denied, although it was confirmed that he was receiving death threats inside the prison, which raises doubts about the safety of the prison and the true intentions to keep him in that institution.

Are African jails really the most dangerous?

The problems with the chains are not unique to South Africa, in fact, nor to Africa. Although considered the worst in the world, many other prison systems are even worse when it comes to security and violence.

We cannot forget that overcrowding and several other problems are common to practically all chains in the world. In fact, globally, never before have there been so many problems in penal systems and such a large population in prison institutions.

With this, it is not intended to say that African prisons are examples of human rights, on the contrary, many are in deficient conditions and are in conflict with the standards of these rights.

Historically, African chains come from colonial times and the legacy that colonialism left on the continents chains is quite heavy. Among this legacy we find preventive detention, overcrowding, resources and mismanagement.

It was also typical for women and children to be imprisoned for supposed rehabilitation, and these practices and bad habits are still maintained today in most African prisons.

The confinement situations

Generally speaking, convicts in African prisons face years of confinement in overcrowded and dirty barracks, with insufficient food, inadequate hygiene and little or no clothing or other “amenities”.

While these conditions are not identical across the continent, their prevalence raises concerns and needs to be addressed through system reforms and respect for human rights.

There is also a veil of ignorance on the part of the general public regarding prison conditions, which only fuels neglect and abuse against inmates.

Africa is made up of countries with profound differences between them, however, there are many common themes of human rights abuse at the continental level, such as: scarcity of resources and failures of administration.

Overcrowding and poor conditions in prisons, failures to protect the rights of pre-trial detainees, women and children, the untapped potential of alternative sentences and unfulfilled rehabilitation mandates are common themes in the vast majority of African prisons.

The colonial heritage

Jails are not an institution native to Africa. Like so many other elements of today's African bureaucracy, it is a holdover from colonial times, a European import designed to isolate and punish political opponents, exercise racial superiority, and administer capital and corporal punishment.

Imprisonment as a punishment was unknown in Africa when the first Europeans arrived there. Although pretrial detention was common, offenses were corrected by compensation rather than punishment.

Local justice systems were victim-centered, not accused-centered, with the aim of compensating rather than imprisoning. Even in centralized states that created jails, the purpose of incarceration continued to be a way of ensuring compensation for the victim rather than punishing the criminals.

Imprisonment and capital punishment were seen as a last resort in African justice systems, to be used only when repeat offenders and witches posed social risks to local communities.

The first experience in Africa, with formal incarceration in jails, comes with the Europeans, and they did not aim at the rehabilitation or reintegration of criminals, but at the economic, political and social subjugation of native peoples.

It was in these early jails that even the lightest offenders were subjected to brutal confinement and recruited as cheap labor.

The prisons of the late XNUMXth century were not mere depots for the victims of colonial oppression, but also manifestations of European racial superiority. European colonizers and conquerors considered Africans to be sub-human peoples, savages whom it was not possible to “civilize”.

While European prisons ended torture in the late XNUMXth century, colonial prisons increasingly relied on the practice as a means of repressing native peoples and reinforcing racist dogma. Torture and capital punishment were legitimized among Europeans by the characterization of Africans as uncivilized, childish, and savage.

the present day

Despite the brutality of colonial prisons and the racist policies of the late XNUMXth century, the way in which these prisons worked became the norm in the new independent countries.

Criminal oppression persisted on an alarming scale and with staggering depth in post-colonial Africa. To make matters worse, problems such as underdevelopment, dependence on foreign aid, political oppression and human degradation continue to rage across the continent.

Despite the departure of the continent, many decades ago, by the colonial powers, inside the prisons, it seems that everything remains the same. Overcrowding, poor infrastructure, corporal and capital punishment, corruption, extended pretrial detention, gang culture, etc.

Without forgetting that there is a total disrespect and inadequate treatment of women and young people, which shows an alarming lack of change in African prisons, despite the departure of the creators of the African penal system more than forty years ago.

Conclusion

As the history of African prisons makes clear, incarceration was brought to Africa from Europe as a means of subjugating and punishing those who resisted colonial authority.

The use of corporal and capital punishment to cover up political oppression was the central objective of the first African prisons. In light of this genesis, therefore, it is not surprising that current African prisons do not meet their declared goals of rehabilitation and still persist in fulfilling the objectives and commit the abuses initiated centuries ago by colonial oppression.

It's time to rethink the entire penal system in Africa and change the way African jails work. We cannot think of a technological or energy shift when the fundamental fabric of African society is poisoned.

What do you think of the situation of African chains? Do you agree that it is time for us to break once and for all with the colonialism that still hangs over Africa? We want to know your opinion, do not hesitate to comment and if you liked the article, share and give a “like/like”.

Picture: © Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Jackie Clausen