01.11.06 - RWANDA/JAIL - RWANDAN PRISONERS SELLING BEER IN PRISON, A NEWSPAPER REVEALS

1 min 20Approximate reading time

RWANDA/JAIL - RWANDAN PRISONERS SELLING BEER IN PRISON, A NEWSPAPER REVEALS Arusha, November 1st 2006 (FH) – Prisoners would be drinking or selling beer in certain detention centers in Rwanda according to the pro-government weekly Imvaho Nshya published in Rwanda in Kinyarwanda.«Inside the prisons, commercial activities exist such as the sale of drinks», the newspaper reports. «Some prisoners and jailers are found drinking together», the journalist adds, noting that a Primus or a Müztig (the two most-consumed brands of beer in Rwanda) each cost around one dollar. The prisons of Karubanda and Butare, in the South, appear in the article. Still according to Imvaho, the convicts who have the means to do so can bribe their jailers and be allowed to receive their wives for intimate visits. Consequently, the article says, it happens that prisoners’ wives get pregnant hence sparking rumours of infidelity while they really carry the babies of their husbands detained in prison.The weekly reports that in certain jails, prisoners are sometimes allowed to visit their families notably for celebrations. The newspaper acknowledges that prisoners have rights that must be guaranteed but that a convict should not be free to behave «like a man at home».In a report of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and the Defense of the Rights of Men (LIPRODHOR) - one of the major associations for the rights of individuals in Rwanda – in the month of March, there was in the sixteen civilian penitentiaries of Rwanda a total of 67.921 prisoners, 54.184 of whom imprisoned for genocide.PIG/PB/MG© Hirondelle News Agency_____________________________________________Hirondelle Foundation                Hirondelle News Agency Lausanne, Switzerland               Arusha, Tanzania Tel : +41 21 654 20 20               Tel : +255 741 51 08 94 Email : info@hirondelle.org         Email : hirondelle@habari.coThis project is funded by Belgium, European community, Norway and Luxemburg