Prisoner population increase breaks downward trend
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday February 14, 2023 06:00
Responding to a question in Parliament recently, Minister of Defence and Security Kagiso Mmusi said in the previous year, the number of citizen prisoners increased slightly whilst the number of foreign prisoners increased marginally.
Mmusi was responding to a question from Gaborone Central legislator, Tumisang Healy, who had asked the minister to state the number of prisoners in Botswana, split between citizens and foreigners, and the trend in the population over the five years.
“It is worth noting that during the five years in question, the number of prisoners has been reducing for both citizens and foreign prisoners. In summary, the trend depicts a decrease every year,” Mmusi further disclosed. In 2017–18, there were 4,256 prisoners, which population was reduced to 4,015 in 2018–19. The number further decreased to 3,989 in 2019–20. There was a slight decrease in 2020–21 where Botswana recorded 3,735 only to increase to 3,907 in 2021–22.
Mmusi also pointed out that as of December 15, 2022, the number of prisoners in Botswana split between citizens and foreigners was 3,129 and 842 respectively, making a total of 3,971 prisoners. For citizen prisoners, the minister indicated that there are 3,071 males and 58 females. For the foreign inmates, the number stands at 703 for males and 139 for females.
Answering the question on classification in prisons, Mmusi said the Prison Service classifies prisoners and assigns certain categories/classes of prisoners to different prisons in accordance with Regulations 4 and 5 of the Botswana Prisons Act, Caption 21:03 of the Botswana Laws.
“Regulation 4 states that; the commissioner may set aside prisons or parts of prisons for the detention of particular classes of prisoners. Regulation 5 (1) which states that; with a view to facilitating the training of prisoners and minimising the danger of contamination, prisoners shall be classified having regard to their age, character and previous history in various classes such as young prisoner class, star class (well-behaved prisoners), ordinary class and un-convicted class,” Mmusi clarified.
Mmusi also noted that Botswana prisons are administratively categorised as maximum, medium, and low-security prisons. He said the high-security prisons are home to prisoners who have committed serious crimes that include murder, rape, armed robbery, robbery etc. He added that some of the prisons in this category include Gaborone Central Prison, First Offenders, and Francistown Prison.
“The young prisoners’ class are kept separately from older prisoners with the primary goal of easily managing inmate risk and ensuring their safety. These types of prisoners are only kept at Moshupa Boys' Prison, where all convicted and un-convicted prisoners of ages below 21 years are detained. Female prisoners are also kept separately and currently kept at Gaborone Women's Prison and Mahalapye Prison,” Mmusi further explained.