Human rights: UN investigator tells of horrors and insanitary conditions of world prisons

Inmates at a prison in Uruguay can spend years in “las latas” (tin cans) — small metal boxes where temperatures rise to 60 degrees Celcius. They had to use the water in the toilets for drinking and defecate in plastic bags, which they later threw outside their cells.

Those were among the abuses chronicled in a report [1] released by U.N. special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak. His report focused on “forgotten prisons” and the treatment of children in prisons.

Nowak notes that police and prison authorities in many countries fail to provide basic services like food, water and a toilet as stipulated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Detainees in Equatorial Guinea had to rely on their families, who brought them water in plastic bottles and food in plastic bags. Since there were no toilets, the detainees must use the same bottles to urinate and the plastic bags to defecate in.

In Uruguay, boys were locked up for up to 22 hours a day in their cells and often had to wait for hours for a guard to let them go to the toilet.

[1] Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 03 Aug 2009. UN General Assembly document A/64/215 [PDF file]

Related news: Nepal: unsafe drinking water and sanitation in prisons, Source South Asia, 20 Aug 2008

Related publication: Nembrini, P.G. (2005). Water, sanitation, hygiene and habitat in prisons. Geneva, Switzerland, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Download full report [PDF file]

Source: Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, 20 Oct 2009 ; UN, 20 Oct 2009

Keywords

• Africa
• Latin America & Caribbean
• Sanitation - On-site sanitation
• Water supply