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Zimbabwe's Prisons Are 'Hell on Earth'

With no food, medicine, dozens die daily in death camp conditions

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 1, 2009 10:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – In Zimbabwe even a short prison term can quickly turn into a death sentence: Conditions are so unsanitary and food so scarce that dozens die daily, as revealed in a secretly shot documentary. Using smuggled cameras, the film shows rotting bodies and mass graves—and that's just in a single prison, the Times of London reports. Zimbabwe has room for 17,000 inmates in 55 locations, but incarcerates twice that number.

"That place, I haven't got the words. I can describe it as hell on earth—though they say it's more than hell," says a former prisoner. Though life isn't easy for most Zimbabweans on the outside, they may at least have access to international aid or be able to scavenge. For prisoners who don't have anyone bringing them food, the overwhelming likelihood is that they will starve to death—if cholera outbreaks or a raging HIV/AIDS epidemic don't strike them down first.

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (2)]

Armed police officers stand guard outside Mutare remand Prison about 300 kilometres east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Wednesday, March, 4, 2009. (AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe delivers a speech at the burial of an Army General. Under his leadership, Zimbabwe's prisons became essentially death camps. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Relatives work to cover the grave of Martha William who died from cholera in Harare, Zimbabwe Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. The danger of cholera and starvation are even higher for prison inmates. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Village women receive aid from the charity organisation Oxfam International about 250 Kilometers South east of Harare, Thursday, Jan., 15, 2009. Prisoners get no such help. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

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That place, I haven't got the words ... I can describe it as hell on earth—though they say it's more than hell. - A former prisoner in a Zimbabwe jail

We have gone the whole year in which—for prisoners and prison officers—the food is hand-to-mouth. They'll be lucky to get one meal. Sometimes they will sleep without. We have moving skeletons. - A prison officer in Harare

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

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Zimbabwe's Prisons Are 'Hell on Earth'