In Ivory Coast, more than 11,900 detainees still await trial
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Mali Actu
In Ivory Coast, more than 11,900 detainees, or nearly 41% of the prison population, are still awaiting trial, according to Justice Minister Jean Sansan Kambilé before Parliament. This prolonged pre-trial detention is overwhelming prisons, particularly the Abidjan Detention and Correction Centre (MACA).
More than 11,900 Ivorian detainees are being held in pre-trial detention while awaiting trial, nearly 41% of all people incarcerated in the country, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Jean Sansan Kambilé, told the Ivorian Parliament this week.
The Abidjan Detention and Correction Centre (MACA) and prisons in the interior of the country suffer from permanent overcrowding, with consequences for access to healthcare and rehabilitation programmes. Human rights organisations are calling for courts to be better resourced: more investigating judges, mobile hearings, digitisation of court registries and greater use of alternatives to imprisonment, such as judicial supervision or community service for minor offences.
The Ivorian figure fits a regional trend. In Liberia, nearly seven in ten detainees were awaiting trial at the end of October, and Nigeria had 55,000 in early November, according to data published in recent weeks.
