The BBC reports on the Mozambican government’s agricultural program designed to permit inmates of its burgeoning prison population the ability to grow their own food. The idea of producing and varying the current diet of beans, rice, and porridge to include potatoes, pumpkins, lettuces, and other vegetables, and allowing inmates to work outdoors, is a welcome opportunity, say many of its participants.
An additional caveat is the local sales of some of the vegetables produced to help pay inmates’ transportation and medical expenses.
Mozambique currently houses a prison population of more than 15,000 inmates. These inmates live together in overcrowded, under-equipped facilities often providing little to no means of effective sanitation.
Mozambican prisons have been criticized by human rights organizations in the past for insufficient sanitation measures and overcrowding. In both 2004 and earlier this year, inmates have died from asphyxiation due to the aforementioned reasons. The Minister of Justice, Benvinda Levy, states that the nation does not have the resources to feed the large numbers of prisoners.
Broadly speaking, the government food program has been widely accepted and welcomed. At the present time, it is being carried out in prisons in the capital of Maputo, and the neighboring province of Gaza.
Posted by Patricia Lee.
