Improving Prison Conditions in Burundi: Strategies and Stakeholder Insights

Restoration Burundi held a session on prison situation discussion to collect and identify strategies to improve life conditions in prisons. The session was attended by various stakeholders of justice, including governmental bodies, civil societies, local and international charities, as well as lawyers. In his presentation, Me Dismas Ndayemeye, a lawyer and lecturer at various universities, mentioned some of the main challenges prisoners encounter, such as the lack of buses, which delays the transport of judges or prisoners, poor feeding, and health care access, whereas most of the prisons were built during the colonial period and are old.

Many prisons are overwhelmed with high numbers of prisoners, where a prison can house 4 or 5 times more prisoners than its initial capacity, and the issue was to know why and what the solution would be.

Among the issues identified were prisoners who spend long times without being heard by the court or who were liberated by the courts but the decisions were not immediately implemented.

Hon. Justine Mpawenayo, a member of the National Parliament Commission of Justice and Human Rights, mentioned the conditional imprisonment where some people are kept in prisons for extra time due to being unable to pay fines. She suggested to NGOs working in the domain to help create a fund that can help in mending when a vulnerable person has finished their prison time.

Ernest Nduwimana, Deputy Public Prosecutor, suggested the sensitization of the population to know that other punishments exist apart from imprisonment because many prosecutors face harsh pressure from the victims and decide to imprison the suspect also for security reasons.

Arthemon Muntunutwiwe, General Secretary of Olucome Burundi, calls on the organizations to work together to provide lawyers to people who are unable to pay them.

When it comes to improving the living conditions of prisoners, Tirza, program coordinator of Mennonite Central Committee - MCC in Burundi, suggested training prisoners on income-generating activities to avoid that the brains of prisoners go blank and when they are released, they may find the meaning of life.

This session comes amid the willingness of the Government of Burundi to relieve prison overcrowding, with the President of Burundi granting clemency to more than 5,000 prisoners.

In justice, Restobu sensitizes the population to know the law regulating our country. This is done through the radio show called Araturaba (no one is supposed to ignore the law) broadcasted on the National Radio, Radio Ivyizigiro, Indundi Culture, and Radio CDN. Moreover, Restobu pleads for vulnerable prisoners. In 2024, 150 vulnerable prisoners were released thanks to Restobu's intervention.

"Justice and life in prisons should be a concern of everyone, and we should do everything we can to help this domain work better," said Nibigira Gratien, the Head of RESTOBU.