Human Rights in Togo - Rights of Persons in Prison

Rights of Persons in Prison

Prison guards beat inmates, also routinely and with impunity. Prisons are overcrowded and unsanitary, with unsatisfactory food and medical care; sick prisoners must pay guards in order to receive treatment in the infirmary, and also pay fees to shower, use toilet facilities, or have a cot. Sexual harassment of female inmates is common. Prisoners are allowed to see visitors and practice their religions. They are also allowed to file complaints, but authorities generally do nothing in response. Investigations of prison conditions are rare, although groups like the Red Cross are allowed to inspect prison facilities. The Ministry of Justice is purportedly administrating a long-term prison reform program, the Urgent Prison Support Program, funded by the EU, but it has changed little. In June 2010, Togo abolished the death penalty, and all persons who had been sentenced to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

A 2012 report by Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) said that “Togo's 12 prisons - many of them dilapidated - hold more than twice their designed capacity. The congestion, as well as inadequate food, medical care and poor hygiene have led to diseases and deaths.” Most of the inmates are people awaiting trial, half of whom have not been charged. The report quoted one prisoner as saying: “We sleep very close to one another, with our heads on someone else’s feet, like sardines in a tin. At night we sleep in shifts, while some lie down, the others stand against the wall waiting impatiently for their turn.” The watchdog group Atlas of Torture ranked Togo the world's fourth worst country when it came to the number of detainees waiting to be tried. IRIN also noted that some persons who are ordered by the courts to be released continue to be held in prison.