People that served their time remain incarcerated

Mozambique’s ombudsman, Jose Abudo told reporters on Tuesday that he is appalled by what he found during a visit to prisons in the northern city of Nampula.Abudo, who is on a working visit to Nampula province, toured the cells in the city’s first police precinct, and the Nampula provincial penitentiary. He talked with the prisoners, and was dismayed by what they told him.

For not only are the prisons overcrowded, but some of the prisoners have served their sentences but have not been released – which clearly only worsens the overcrowding problem.Cited by the independent television station STV, Abudo said it was “incomprehensible” that people who had served their time were still incarcerated. He believed these abuses were happening on a significant scale. Abudo was told that in these cases the release papers had not yet been issued, but he brushed this aside as a tawdry excuse and insisted that prisoners who have served their sentences “should not remain in jail for another minute”.It made no sense to keep people who should have been freed behind bars, and at the same time complain that the prisons are overcrowded.The ombudsman does not have the power to order the immediate release of prisoners, nut he promised that he would intervene on their behalf, and make recommendations to the relevant institutions.