Many inmates in Botswana’s overcrowded prisons were denied medical treatment and had no access to clean water, forcing them to drink from toilets, according to a newspaper report.
The atrocious conditions were discussed by Gaborone District Commissioner Khumo Gofhamodimo, the now-retired Prisons Commissioner Joseph Orebotse and other senior officials at a meeting last September, the Mmegi newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Quoting leaked minutes of the meeting, the newspaper said prisons did not have adequate blankets or uniforms and that many cells had no toilets or taps.
Inmates at Gaborone’s central prison had no access to doctors or nurses and those with contagious diseases were not isolated from their cellmates, exposing them to infection, the report said.
Food was transported to cells in open wheelbarrows and inmates served it with their hands.
Orebotse admitted that conditions in the prisons were
unacceptable, and said they were caused by a shortage of funds. – Sapa-AP