They said 81 inmates sleep in a cell with a maximum capacity of 40. “The cell room is approximately 15 m x 6 m,” they revealed. According to the inmates, overcrowding has led to an increase in violence among inmates at the prison. They allege that prisoners use razor blades to fight each other for sleeping space.
The inmates say that 81 of them share one toilet bowl and there is no washing basin in the toilet. “The toilet is approximately 3m x 2.5 m. We drink water from the same toilet bowl because there is no place
to draw water after being locked in from 4 pm - 6pm,” the inmates stated.
They pointed out that the cells are infested with lice and cockroaches which crawl into their ears. The petition says that there is a general hygiene problem in prison and up to 15 prisoners sleep in a toilet. “One inmate uses the toilet bowl while another prisoner sleep beside the toilet seat. Some sleep standing in the toilet,” the petition read. The inmates claim that sometimes prison food gives them running stomachs.
In a related matter, the Commissioner of Prisons, Herman Kau was summoned to the High Court last week to lead evidence about the prevailing conditions in local jails in a case in which Bissau Gaobakwe has been convicted of attempted murder. Gaobakwe has been remanded at the Gaborone Maximum Prison pending sentence. Kau admitted that most of the local prisons are overcrowded. But he denied claims that prisoners at the Gaborone Maximum Prison slept in toilets and on top of each another. He said prisoners slept “side by side” in overcrowded cells. Despite the overcrowding, the commissioner said local prisons were still habitable. Even the quality of food, he said, was good. He added that inmates were well looked after with easy access to medical facilities. Kau said there has never been an outbreak of diarrheoa at the Gaborone Maximum security prison.
