No women’s section at overcrowded Rundu police cells
The Rundu police holding cells have no women’s section and inmates are cooking for themselves with firewood, Namibian Sun understands.
The facility, designed for 100 inmates, is home to 260 inmates at the moment. Inmates are forced to sleep either in corridors or in the showers because the facility is packed to the rafters.
Female inmates are cramped together in a room near the charge office, which does not have a shower or toilet, sources at the facility said.
The police leadership did not deny the allegations, with police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga conceding that overcrowding in cells is a national crisis that stretches beyond just Rundu.
It is alleged that the challenges experienced at Rundu police station emanate from the lack of capacity at the facility which has forced the police to try and “balance the situation”.
“The welfare of inmates is ignored, even though there is a prisoner welfare office at the station,” the source said.
“Because of the overcrowding some inmates sleep in the corridor while some sleep in the showers. When it rains inmates sleeping in the corridor stand until the rain stops. Their blankets get wet because there’s no roofing in the corridor, there’s only burglar bars on top.”
Apart from the overcrowding in the holding cells, the dilapidated state of the building has resulted in inmates escaping from custody.
In 2020 it was reported that old cells were being renovated to address the overcrowding but that project came to a standstill because the contractor abandoned the site.
Cooking for themselves
The source further indicated that inmates are cooking for themselves despite there being workers employed to cook for the inmates.
“Rundu police station is an A station but inmates are cooking for themselves outside on firewood because there’s no gas canisters. There are people who are employed to cook for inmates but they’ve decided to stop cooking for reasons only known to them and seniors have turned a blind eye,” the source revealed.
Escaping easily
The source further alleged that because there is no fence on the southern side of the police station, it makes it easy for escaping inmates to cross the Kavango River, which is only metres away, and flee into Angola.
“Just last week an inmate escaped by running from the station and was caught by police officers trying to cross the Kavango River into Angola. This has happened many times. Officers were lucky to catch him this time because mostly these inmates successfully escape into Angola,” the source alleged.
When contacted for comment, the Kavango East police commander, Commissioner Johanna Ngondo, referred the questions to Ndeitunga.
Ndeitunga said: “Rundu is just like Oshakati, Ongwediva, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Katima Mulilo etcetera. All those cells are overcrowded and when those people are squeezed in there you have little space to manoeuvre.”
Ndeitunga said there are no remand prisons in the country for awaiting-trial detainees, hence they are kept at the police holding cells which results in overcrowding.
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The facility, designed for 100 inmates, is home to 260 inmates at the moment. Inmates are forced to sleep either in corridors or in the showers because the facility is packed to the rafters.
Female inmates are cramped together in a room near the charge office, which does not have a shower or toilet, sources at the facility said.
The police leadership did not deny the allegations, with police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga conceding that overcrowding in cells is a national crisis that stretches beyond just Rundu.
It is alleged that the challenges experienced at Rundu police station emanate from the lack of capacity at the facility which has forced the police to try and “balance the situation”.
“The welfare of inmates is ignored, even though there is a prisoner welfare office at the station,” the source said.
“Because of the overcrowding some inmates sleep in the corridor while some sleep in the showers. When it rains inmates sleeping in the corridor stand until the rain stops. Their blankets get wet because there’s no roofing in the corridor, there’s only burglar bars on top.”
Apart from the overcrowding in the holding cells, the dilapidated state of the building has resulted in inmates escaping from custody.
In 2020 it was reported that old cells were being renovated to address the overcrowding but that project came to a standstill because the contractor abandoned the site.
Cooking for themselves
The source further indicated that inmates are cooking for themselves despite there being workers employed to cook for the inmates.
“Rundu police station is an A station but inmates are cooking for themselves outside on firewood because there’s no gas canisters. There are people who are employed to cook for inmates but they’ve decided to stop cooking for reasons only known to them and seniors have turned a blind eye,” the source revealed.
Escaping easily
The source further alleged that because there is no fence on the southern side of the police station, it makes it easy for escaping inmates to cross the Kavango River, which is only metres away, and flee into Angola.
“Just last week an inmate escaped by running from the station and was caught by police officers trying to cross the Kavango River into Angola. This has happened many times. Officers were lucky to catch him this time because mostly these inmates successfully escape into Angola,” the source alleged.
When contacted for comment, the Kavango East police commander, Commissioner Johanna Ngondo, referred the questions to Ndeitunga.
Ndeitunga said: “Rundu is just like Oshakati, Ongwediva, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Katima Mulilo etcetera. All those cells are overcrowded and when those people are squeezed in there you have little space to manoeuvre.”
Ndeitunga said there are no remand prisons in the country for awaiting-trial detainees, hence they are kept at the police holding cells which results in overcrowding.
[email protected]
Comments
Reino Kambango
This very bad