VZCZCXYZ0027
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHOU #0548/01 1941503
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131503Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5188
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 000548 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM ELAB SOCI PGOV UV
SUBJECT:  BURKINA FASO: overcrowded and dilapidated city jail. 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) PolOfficer visited the Ouagadougou city jail on June 25th 
at the invitation of a local human rights NGO.  The visit, which 
lasted about two hours, included a meeting with the jail 
administrator as well as site visits to the main jail block, VIP 
quarters, women's quarters and juvenile detention area.  The jail is 
dangerously overcrowded, daily food rations are insufficient and of 
poor quality, hygiene is quasi-non existent, and the buildings are 
dilapidated and in grave disrepair.  Convicted criminals are mixed 
in with those pending trial, HIV-positive and HIV negative detainees 
cohabitate in cramped quarters and there is very limited access to 
healthcare at the prison. END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------- 
3/4 at MACO are pending trial 
------------------------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) The surprise visit to the jail was organized by the 
Burkinab Movement for the Emergence of Social Justice (MBEJUS) and 
included members of the press (TV, print and radio), local NGOS and 
the U.S. Embassy.  The Ouagadougou Correctional Institution (Maison 
d'Arret et de Correction de Ouagadougou - MACO) was built in the 
1960's for a maximum occupancy of 400 detainees.  Nearly 50 years 
later the capacity has been exceed by 350 percent with more than 
1436 detainees.  The MACO's prisoner/guard ratio is more than 
tenfold the international norms reaching 30 prisoners/1 guard. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) While the judicial procedure stipulates that those pending 
trial should not be detained for more than 21 days in cases of 
misdemeanor offenses and no more than three months for criminal 
cases requiring investigation, the reality  is far different. 
Detainees we spoke to told us that they had been awaiting trial for 
six-months or more, in some cases years.  Human rights groups echoed 
that reality and claimed that some prisoners have been awaiting 
trial for several years, and there are cases of prisoners who have 
been forgotten by the courts and thus remain in jail.  According to 
prison officials, of the 1436 detainees at MACO, 78 percent are 
waiting trial and 22 percent are actually convicted (Note: There are 
no Americans in MACO. End Note.) 
 
--------------- 
Food scarcity 
---------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) The daily food rations are inadequate to feed all the 
detainees properly.  With less than 500 grams food a day per 
detainee, malnutrition is prevalent.  The daily subsidence provided 
by the jail kitchen is either maize or millet porridge.  Lack of 
fresh fruit, little exposure to sunlight and contaminated water 
further worsen the nutritional situation.  Numerous cases of scurvy 
have been reported in the past year. The GOBF ordered a supply of 
rice for 2009 but scarcity and delivery problems have prevented it 
from reaching the MACO.  (Note: Typically the families of detainees 
are expected to supplement their diet by bringing food to them.  In 
fact though, the majority of detainees are either estranged from 
their families, geographically isolated, or with financial problems, 
and hence do not benefit from the dietary supplement. End Note) 
 
-------------------------- 
Men's and Women's quarters 
-------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) In the main building, reserved for non-VIP men, each cell 
measures 12 square meters and holds 15-20 men.  There is 
insufficient space for all cellmates to sleep at the same time and 
so sleep rotations have to be scheduled.  On some floors detainees 
sleep in the halls or staircases because cells have reached capacity 
and are unable to hold more people. While in theory each cell is 
equipped with a toilet and a faucet, in many cases one or both are 
inoperable.  Little or no ventilation, poor hygiene and lack of 
basic cleaning supplies means that the jail is in deplorable 
sanitary condition, with human waste, decomposing food, and trash 
covering the floors and halls.  The main building also houses the 
two death-row inmates, who ironically have much better living 
conditions then the other detainees.  They are in individuals cells, 
have beds, fans, and television.  (Note: While the death penalty 
still exists on paper in Burkina Faso, it is no longer implemented. 
The sentence of those on death row has been commuted to life in jail 
without parole. End Note) 
¶6.  (SBU) By contrast, the women's quarters appear much less grim. 
About thirty women are incarcerated in the MACO, they live in three 
spacious rooms, but sleep on mats on the concrete floor.  They spend 
their days weaving cloth and making handbags to sell and have access 
to an inner court yard.  Men, even male guards, are not allowed in 
this quarter.  Breast-feeding mothers, and mothers of children 
younger than three or four are allowed to keep their children with 
them.  When asked, one detainee said she had no choice but to keep 
her child with her as none of her family would care for him outside. 
 Another woman we spoke to complained that the food she was given 
was not adapted to her HIV-positive status.  While she had regular 
access to anti-retro virus ARVs, she did not have access to the 
specialized diet that her treatment required. 
------------------------- 
VIP and Juvenile quarters 
------------------------- 
¶7.  (SBU) The VIP quarter is by far the most spacious, clean and 
habitable of the MACO.  It houses 160 adult males who have either 
committed minor infractions, white collar crimes, or whose 
socio-economic status allows them to avoid being in the main jail 
building.  While they sleep in common rooms that are locked down at 
night, during the day they have access to a garden and courtyard. 
On the day we visited they were playing chess and card games on 
benches under the shade of mango trees. 
¶8.  On the day of the visit, 79 minors were being held in MACO. 
Ranging in age between 13 and 17, ninety percent of those held were 
pending trial.  The NGOs are concerned that while pending trial, or 
while awaiting a juvenile judge's verdict, these young men were 
learning "bad habits" and were being schooled by their peers in 
criminal conduct.  For example, three teenagers are detained for 
rape.  According to an NGO lawyer following the case, the young girl 
they had sex with, fearful of her reputation, and perhaps urged by 
her mother, pressed rape charges on her classmates.  The boys were 
jailed pending trial.  Although the girl recanted her accusation 
shortly thereafter, explaining that although initially consenting, 
she had been upset that the boys had not paid her for sex, the judge 
had not freed the boys. They have been held there for several months 
and are missing school. 
 
--------------------- 
Access to health care 
--------------------- 
¶9.  (SBU) The MACO jail has one health unit staffed by two nurses 
who see 80-100 patients daily.  The Health unit is open from 10-4 
and has no night duty nurse.  The medical equipment is limited to 
one examination table and one blood pressure machine.  There are no 
first aid supplies.  The under-trained, over-worked and 
under-equipped nurses are thus unable to tend to the detainee 
population's elementary health needs.  Promiscuity, poor hygiene 
conditions and lack of basic necessities have facilitated the spread 
of infectious diseases (TB) and epidemics like measles. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶10. (SBU) Despite the deplorable conditions and lack of amelioration 
in the past years, the jail administrators welcomed the visit, were 
open with visitors' questions, and willing to share information. 
Prison officials may be willing to talk to the press, NGOs and Human 
Rights groups in the hopes that the detainees living conditions and 
subsequently their own working conditions might improve. 
Interestingly the guards seem almost sympathetic to the detainee's 
plight and tensions among detainees and guards are relatively low. 
END COMMENT. 
 
LAEUCHLI