‘Unbearable’ cell conditions raised in court

THE grim conditions under which people are detained in the Windhoek Police station’s holding cells were revealed in the High Court on Friday for a second time in less than two weeks.

Eight days after conditions at the Windhoek Police Station holding cells were described as “horrendous” and “plainly unconstitutional and unlawful” in a judgement delivered by Acting Judge Hosea Angula, one of the detainees being held at these cells approached the High Court with an urgent application on Friday to ask that his immediate release be ordered due to the conditions under which he is being kept in Police custody. Detainee Leon Gaven did not succeed with his bid to be released.Judge Collins Parker however acceded to a compromise request from Gaven’s lawyer, Christie Mostert, and ordered that Gaven should be moved from the Windhoek Police Station holding cells to the Hosea Kutako International Airport Police Station.The cells there are less crowded and considered to be in a better state that the cells at the Windhoek Police Station.Gaven informed the court in an affidavit that he was arrested on July 12 on a charge of rape.He is being accused of having sexually molested his fiancée’s 14-year-old daughter, he stated.According to Gaven he is strongly denying the charge.He applied for bail in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday last week, but the ruling on that application was postponed until today, he stated.During the bail application, his fiancée testified that her daughter had made similar allegations against a former boyfriend of her mother, the Judge was informed.After she and the boyfriend ended their relationship, the child admitted that she had falsely accused him because she did not like him, his fiancée testified in the Magistrate’s Court, Gaven stated.He informed the court that he was kept with more than 30 other detainees in a cell that he estimated had a capacity to hold 20 people.”The conditions are horrendous and filthy,” Gaven stated.He claimed that there are more than 160 detainees at the cells at this stage.In a report on conditions in Namibia’s Police holding cells that the Ombudsman, John Walters, submitted to the National Assembly in November last year, it was stated that the cells have a capacity to hold 120 people, Gaven noted.He stated that conditions at the cells are unbearable because of the number of people being detained at the Police Station.”The cells are so overcrowded that some of the detainees have to sleep in the corridors at night,” Gaven claimed.”Cells are totally overcrowded and most detainees do not even have the necessary and/or adequate blankets to sleep.No beds are available and detainees have to sleep on the cement floor.The cells are also extremely cold which is detrimental to my health and the health of other detainees.”Gaven complained that the food served to detainees not only lacked nutritional value, but was served “out of filthy containers”.”As there are sometimes no serving utensils, detainees are being forced to dish up food with their bare hands out of the filthy containers which contributes to the unhygienic condition of the food,” he claimed.Toilets and showers at the cells are not partitioned, forcing detainees to use the toilets and wash themselves in the presence of fellow detainees, Gaven added.”This is highly degrading and one is completely deprived of your privacy.Due to the location of the toilets, there is also a constant unbearable smell of human faeces, and also a constant smell of human sweat as the toiletries provided are inadequate,” he stated further.During the time that he has been detained the toilet in his cell has become blocked on four occasions, and the detainees had to use their bare hands to unblock it, Gaven claimed.He further stated that there is constant violence in the cell, with at least one fight a day between the detainees.”There is also a constant threat of rape, and I fear for my safety,” he declared.”It is difficult to describe the terrible and horrendous conditions on paper to a Court,” he remarked, adding that it is cruel and inhumane and in conflict with the Constitution to be detained in these conditions.”The conditions at the Windhoek Police cells are inhuman and degrading,” Gaven stated.He echoed remarks made by Acting Judge Angula eight days earlier in a judgement on a damages claim that five men who were detained in the same cells for a week in April 2003 had brought against the Minister of Home Affairs, who was responsible for the Namibian Police at the time, and two Police officers involved in their arrest.In that judgement, Acting Judge Angula agreed that the conditions in the holding cells where the men were detained were inhumane and degrading and violated their constitutional right to human dignity.Acting Judge Angula stated that the court could not take a claimed lack of money into account as a factor excusing the state of the cells.He commented that the State is constitutionally bound to find and make resources available to maintain cells in a clean and hygienic condition, and that if this is not done, the authorities could be held liable for violating detainees’ constitutional rights.Detainee Leon Gaven did not succeed with his bid to be released.Judge Collins Parker however acceded to a compromise request from Gaven’s lawyer, Christie Mostert, and ordered that Gaven should be moved from the Windhoek Police Station holding cells to the Hosea Kutako International Airport Police Station.The cells there are less crowded and considered to be in a better state that the cells at the Windhoek Police Station.Gaven informed the court in an affidavit that he was arrested on July 12 on a charge of rape.He is being accused of having sexually molested his fiancée’s 14-year-old daughter, he stated.According to Gaven he is strongly denying the charge.He applied for bail in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday last week, but the ruling on that application was postponed until today, he stated.During the bail application, his fiancée testified that her daughter had made similar allegations against a former boyfriend of her mother, the Judge was informed. After she and the boyfriend ended their relationship, the child admitted that she had falsely accused him because she did not like him, his fiancée testified in the Magistrate’s Court, Gaven stated.He informed the court that he was kept with more than 30 other detainees in a cell that he estimated had a capacity to hold 20 people.”The conditions are horrendous and filthy,” Gaven stated.He claimed that there are more than 160 detainees at the cells at this stage.In a report on conditions in Namibia’s Police holding cells that the Ombudsman, John Walters, submitted to the National Assembly in November last year, it was stated that the cells have a capacity to hold 120 people, Gaven noted.He stated that conditions at the cells are unbearable because of the number of people being detained at the Police Station.”The cells are so overcrowded that some of the detainees have to sleep in the corridors at night,” Gaven claimed.”Cells are totally overcrowded and most detainees do not even have the necessary and/or adequate blankets to sleep.No beds are available and detainees have to sleep on the cement floor.The cells are also extremely cold which is detrimental to my health and the health of other detainees.”Gaven complained that the food served to detainees not only lacked nutritional value, but was served “out of filthy containers”.”As there are sometimes no serving utensils, detainees are being forced to dish up food with their bare hands out of the filthy containers which contributes to the unhygienic condition of the food,” he claimed.Toilets and showers at the cells are not partitioned, forcing detainees to use the toilets and wash themselves in the presence of fellow detainees, Gaven added.”This is highly degrading and one is completely deprived of your privacy.Due to the location of the toilets, there is also a constant unbearable smell of human faeces, and also a constant smell of human sweat as the toiletries provided are inadequate,” he stated further.During the time that he has been detained the toilet in his cell has become blocked on four occasions, and the detainees had to use their bare hands to unblock it, Gaven claimed.He further stated that there is constant violence in the cell, with at least one fight a day between the detainees.”There is also a constant threat of rape, and I fear for my safety,” he declared.”It is difficult to describe the terrible and horrendous conditions on paper to a Court,” he remarked, adding that it is cruel and inhumane and in conflict with the Constitution to be detained in these conditions.”The conditions at the Windhoek Police cells are inhuman and degrading,” Gaven stated.He echoed remarks made by Acting Judge Angula eight days earlier in a judgement on a damages claim that five men who were detained in the same cells for a week in April 2003 had brought against the Minister of Home Affairs, who was responsible for the Namibian Police at the time, and two Police officers involved in their arrest.In that judgement, Acting Judge Angula agreed that the conditions in the holding cells where the men were detained were inhumane and degrading and violated their constitutional right to human dignity.Acting Judge Angula stated that the court could not take a claimed lack of money into account as a factor excusing the state of the cells.He commented that the State is constitutionally bound to find and make resources available to maintain cells in a clean and hygienic condition, and that if this is not done, the authorities could be held liable for violating detainees’ constitutional rights.