Ngozi: lack of food ration at the main prison

Detainees, in the main prison of Ngozi (northern Burundi) have no food. The most affected are those from the provinces of Kirundo and Kayanza (same region) who expect any interventions from their relatives like their peers because of the long distance from home to the prison. Sick people are particularly affected since taking drugs without food causes pains in stomach. Everyone cries out for help. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The prison has detainees from the provinces of Ngozi, Kayanza and Kirundo. It faces difficult conditions due to the lack of food rations.

“We have just spent two weeks without receiving the beans. To eat the small cassava paste, some buy vegetables but those who cannot afford it use lukewarm water mixed with salt. It’s sad”, said a detainee, originally from Kayanza.

“We are already used to eating once a day in the afternoon only,” another prisoner reported.

Information from the prison indicates the prisoners who come from the provinces of Kirundo and Kayanza suffer enormously because they are almost abandoned by their own families due to the long distance they have to travel to visit them.

“At least those who are from Ngozi experience a slight improvement because their families can come at least three times a week. Otherwise the rest of us are starving. We can only have a visit once a month”, indignantly said another.

Hunger-related diseases like kwachiorkor are beginning to spread.

Detainees with chronic illnesses whose medication requires food, are also victims.

“Patients from HIV are condemned to take the drugs hungry stomach. Some have also caught diseases that they did not have, such as suffering from the stomach”, testifies a former prisoner.

Ngozi prison houses more than 1,500 prisoners, its capacity being only 400 people.