Universities of crime
When prison rehabilitation and care programmes fail, and prisoners are abused and dehumanised, an entire country becomes more unsafe when these ‘graduates’ from the penal system set foot outside jail walls again.
Yesterday, we carried some shocking revelations from former inmates. They revealed a world run by brutal prison gangs, forced sodomy and brutality, with its own language, rites and oral traditions. So-called Number gangs, made infamous by continually emerging stories from South African jails, also operate in Namibian prisons, former inmates revealed. They said sex among inmates happens on a daily basis and condoms not being distributed in prisons is a critical issue.
Last year, we reported that housebreaking, murder, rape and stock theft top the list of crimes that landed more than half of Namibia’s present prison population of 4 456 men behind bars. Data shared by the Namibian Correctional Services (NCS) showed that the majority of female prisoners – 61% – are in prison for crimes involving murder, assault or theft. In total, 762 inmates were imprisoned for housebreaking, and 680 for murder.
Among the 144 female inmates incarcerated last December, 38 are in prison for murder, 28 for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and 22 for theft. Among the men, 642 are in jail for murder and 613 for rape.
If the shocking stories of prison gangs and abuse are to be believed, jails have become nothing more than universities of crime for inmates. Just a few years ago, First Lady Monica Geingos wept as she listened to prisoners in the Windhoek Correctional Facility.
As part of her efforts to get to the root causes of gender-based violence, Geingos met prison authorities and also engaged with those convicted of murder, rape and robbery, amongst others.
She highlighted that to protect future victims, we need to understand perpetrators. The same is true when it comes to rehabilitation and rooting out gangs in prisons. Lest we breed even more hardened criminals.
Yesterday, we carried some shocking revelations from former inmates. They revealed a world run by brutal prison gangs, forced sodomy and brutality, with its own language, rites and oral traditions. So-called Number gangs, made infamous by continually emerging stories from South African jails, also operate in Namibian prisons, former inmates revealed. They said sex among inmates happens on a daily basis and condoms not being distributed in prisons is a critical issue.
Last year, we reported that housebreaking, murder, rape and stock theft top the list of crimes that landed more than half of Namibia’s present prison population of 4 456 men behind bars. Data shared by the Namibian Correctional Services (NCS) showed that the majority of female prisoners – 61% – are in prison for crimes involving murder, assault or theft. In total, 762 inmates were imprisoned for housebreaking, and 680 for murder.
Among the 144 female inmates incarcerated last December, 38 are in prison for murder, 28 for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and 22 for theft. Among the men, 642 are in jail for murder and 613 for rape.
If the shocking stories of prison gangs and abuse are to be believed, jails have become nothing more than universities of crime for inmates. Just a few years ago, First Lady Monica Geingos wept as she listened to prisoners in the Windhoek Correctional Facility.
As part of her efforts to get to the root causes of gender-based violence, Geingos met prison authorities and also engaged with those convicted of murder, rape and robbery, amongst others.
She highlighted that to protect future victims, we need to understand perpetrators. The same is true when it comes to rehabilitation and rooting out gangs in prisons. Lest we breed even more hardened criminals.
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Namibian Sun
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