Imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s most notorious prison

When trying to describe Makala prison – the site of a deadly and failed prison break this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo – two people who had been inside used the exact same word: “hell.”

“Makara is a real hell,” former prisoner and journalist Stanis Bujakera told the BBC of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest prison.

In September last year, Boujakra was accused by authorities of writing an article accusing the military of involvement in the death of an opposition politician, and was later sent to the notorious Makara prison. He stayed there for six months.

“Makara is not a prison, but a detention center similar to a concentration camp where people are sent to die,” he said.

The prison in the capital, Kinshasa, has a capacity of 1,500 inmates, but capacity is estimated to be around 10 times that number.

This crowded population included petty criminals, political prisoners, and murderers.

Human rights groups have long complained of dire conditions faced by prisoners in Makala, including overcrowding, insufficient food and limited access to clean water.

The conditions are again in the spotlight following a disaster at the facility earlier this week.

After a large number of prisoners attempted to escape early Monday morning, 129 prisoners diedsaid Interior Minister Jacqueman Shabani.

Mr. Shabani reported that two dozen people were shot while trying to escape, but most suffocated in the crush.

Four surviving prisoners told reporters new york times The prisoner had been locked in a suffocating cell with no running water or fan power for more than a day and a half before the attempted escape.

Some prisoners initially escaped to escape the heat, they said.

Bujakra said these situations were not uncommon – taps in Makala “frequently” ran dry, while “the electricity was random, leaving detainees without light for days on end”.

He added: “Prisoners are effectively left to their fate, exposed to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, which exacerbates contamination and the spread of disease.”

As a result, prisoners are dying “every day,” Bujakra said.

Rostin Manketa, executive director of La Voix des Sans Voix, a Congolese human rights organization, said similarly.

He visited Makara several times and concluded that when a person is sent to Makara prison, “it seems [they] Has been sent to hell.”

Striking footage shot by Boujakra during his time in Makala shows dozens of sleeping men huddled tightly together on the floor of a packed room.

Their limbs overlap, and in a delicate balancing act, some of the men sleep on the wall that separates the shower stalls.

Conditions are better in the VIP section of Makara, a separate pavilion that only a few people can afford – for example, you get a bed and more space.

Bujakra was asked to pay $3,000 (£2,280) for VIP accommodation but managed to slash the price to $450 (£340).

He told the BBC: “Economic inequality among prisoners creates a hierarchy…the poorest are left behind.”

What’s more, Makala’s guards are rarely present. Law and order within prisons are effectively entrusted to the prisoners themselves.

Fred Bauma, a human rights activist who was imprisoned in Makara between March 2015 and August 2016, told the BBC Focus on Africa This week’s podcast.

“It’s like you change the country and you have a new government and you need to learn the rules.”

This system of autonomy is dysfunctional and leads to “toxic power dynamics, violence and conflict between prisoners,” Bujakra said.

But Makala isn’t alone in the dire conditions — prisons across the country are chronically underfunded and overcrowded.

according to Introduction to world prisons According to the project, prisons in the Democratic Republic of Congo rank sixth among the most crowded in the world.

The authorities have acknowledged the problem several times. After Monday’s escape, Deputy Justice Minister Samuel Mbemba blamed magistrates for overcrowding in prisons, noting that “even just suspects are sent to prison”.

Many prisoners were not actually sentenced for their crimes but were held in jail for months or even years awaiting trial.

Food in DRC prisons has also been widely criticized.

In Makara, prisoners are fed only one meal a day, and the dish often has limited nutritional value.

Photos taken by Boujakra show a barrel of cornmeal, a staple carbohydrate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, becoming hard and dry, accompanied by a watery brown stew.

To avoid malnutrition, many prisoners rely on relatives to bring them food.

However, not everyone has these connections.

In 2017, a charity reported that Food shortage in Makala leads to at least 17 prisoners starving to death.

Mankota said it was “possible” that Makara’s testing environment led to the tragic jailbreak.

He believes that to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, authorities should build new prisons and improve existing ones.

Bujakra, who currently lives in the United States, said the change must happen quickly.

He lamented that it was a “sick” justice system, as Monday’s disaster showed, with people dying while waiting for treatment.

Additional reporting by BBC Kinshasa’s Emery Makumeno.