According to the daily newspaper “O Pais”, the director of penal control in the Ministry of Justice, Samo Goncalves, revealed that these deaths occurred despite the prison service having 15 health units staffed by 24 professionals.
Among the professionals employed by the service are doctors, medical technicians, nurses and psychiatrists. The current prison population is just above 15,800 prisoners.
Samo Goncalves pointed out that “prisoners are guaranteed treatment with anti-retroviral drugs and are monitored by qualified doctors”.
The director expressed his concern at the growing number of escapees, pointing out that last year 343 prisoners escaped, with only 98 being recaptured.
Statistics from the Ministry of Justice reveal that there is a ratio of one guard to fifteen prisoners, which is considered to be too low to stop the jailbreaks.
Post published in: Africa News