Photo Credit:Reuters
More than 100 people have been killed in the Congo's capital, Kinshasa, while trying to escape from the country's largest prison. Prisoners tried to break out en masse from the Makala Central Prison in the capital, Kinshasa, at around 2 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) on Monday, Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango told reporters.
“The provisional human toll stands at 129 dead including 24 by gunshot after warning. The others died by jostling, suffocation and some women were raped,” Bihango said. He added that 59 people were receiving medical care.
He also said a fire broke out and destroyed the prison’s administrative buildings, registry, hospital, and food depots. Shabani confirmed that the situation was under control.
The Monday morning, September 2 incident led to a call for a crisis meeting with the heads of defence and security services. The government is relieved “by the restored calm,” he said, adding that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
More than 12,000 inmates, mostly pretrial detainees, were held in the Makala prison before the attempted jailbreak even though the facility could only contain 1,500 people, according to a recent report by Amnesty International which highlighted the “appalling” detention conditions at the facility.
In a statement on social media Monday, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba condemned the prison break attempt as a “pre-meditated act of sabotage.”
Mutamba barred public prosecutors from transferring any inmates to Makala prison “until further notice” as part of a series of measures he announced to tackle overcrowding at the country’s prisons.
In a statement on X, the European Union called for “an independent and rapid investigation to shed light on these tragic events and establish responsibilities.” Prison breaks are common in the DRC, with several attacks being launched on correctional facilities in recent years.
