14th March, 2015
One prisoner in one of Zimbabwe’s most notorious jails has died after hundreds of inmates rioted over the poor quality of their food, state media reported on Saturday.
The riot broke out at lunchtime on Friday at the Chikurubi maximum security prison in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.
“The inmates had been released to have their lunch, unfortunately they protested the type of relish they had been given – vegetables, which they didn’t want,” Elizabeth Banda, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) spokeswoman told the paper.
“Unfortunately, one prisoner died. He was caught up in the stampede,” she said, adding that eight prisoners were injured and three prison offers were maimed as a result of the unrest.
The paper reported that gunshots were fired during the riot where police and state security agents were called in to contain the situation.
Zimbabwe has a prison population of about 17,000 inmates at 42 prisons across the southern African country.
More than 100 prisoners died of malnutrition and illness in 2013 in Zimbabwean prisons which have been hit by food shortages due to a lack of funds, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
At the height of the country’s economic crisis in 2008, hunger and disease hit Zimbabwe’s prisons and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) distributed food, blankets and soap to inmates the following year to help avert hunger and disease outbreaks.