Rwanda prisons overcrowded to alarming level

KIGALI, Rwanda

Rwandan prisons are pilling up to problematic levels and the increase in inmates is attracting the attention of rights organisations.

Transparency International and Legal Aid Forum conducted a study and found out that the numbers are staggeringly disturbing.

They disclosed that the overcrowding in Rwandan prison populations has increased to 174%.

The study dubbed Policy Research on the Implementation of Alternatives to Imprisonment in Rwanda by Transparency International Rwanda, a local corruption watchdog said that there are currently 84,710 people consisting of 11,000 people who are detained provisionally excluding those that are held in various RIB stations.

Figures indicate the number of people in jail in 2020 was 6600 at a 136 percent of overcrowding rate, but it has increased to 8400 in two years at 174% overcrowding.

The increasing rate according to legal practitioners is exacerbated by prosecutors who rush to seek imprisonment of suspects before courts without doing thorough investigations or thinking of other possible means.

Immaculee Ingabire, the Director for Transparency International Rwanda, a local corruption watchdog, says the prosecutors have wrongly made it a norm to seek imprisonment for anyone suspected of committing a crime.

She believes prosecutors should think out of the box and look for other remedies that could render justice instead of imprisonment.

“It has now become a norm that prosecutors’ request 30 days of detention for suspects whenever they appear before the judge. Yet, there are alternatives that can be used as means to punish and rehabilitate offenders without seeking imprisonment,” he said.

She further adds that alternatives to imprisonment serve to reduce pressures on the prison apparatus by reducing pre-trial detention and prison overcrowding.

Theophile Mbonera, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, says the finding is timely emphasizing that the responsible organs will have to consider the finding and respond to it wisely.

“This research can raise the debate where people could discuss the matter and see if the outcome of the findings can be given credit,” he said.

Referring to the increasing number of 11,000 pending cases, Andrews Kananga, the Executive Director for Legal Aids Forum, a local NGO that offers legal assistance to vulnerable communities said judicial organs should foster speedy rendering of justice as a solution to overcrowding.

He said, however, alternative systems can provide a lasting solution.

“I think the institutions should meet and discuss the matter,” he noted.

There are 12 alternatives to imprisonment existing in Rwandan laws. However, the majority of them are not applied.

These include fines without trial, release on parole, plea bargaining, probation, and community service among others.

The study recommends that the alternatives to imprisonment can reduce overcrowding by 97.38% and the financial costs of imprisonment by 98.5%. - Taarifa