Thu 04 May 2023:
Overcrowding in some prisons in Madagascar has reached 1,000% creating an alarming situation, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) said on Tuesday.
“The extreme overcrowding we witnessed in prisons, close to 1000% in some of them, needs immediate action from the Malagasy authorities,” Juan Pablo Vegas, who headed the delegation, said.
The SPT visited 30 places of detention in Madagascar during its April 16-27 visit, including prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and police stations.
“With half of its prison population in pre-trial detention, Madagascar should reconsider its criminal policies and enact urgent measures, including alternatives to imprisonment, to reduce this grave level of overcrowding that constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions of detention, contrary to international law standards,” Vegas added.
To date, 92 states have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. The SPT is authorized to visit all countries that have signed the protocol to conduct unannounced and unimpeded assessments of places of detention.
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