Wednesday 26 February 2014

Highlighting appalling detention conditions in Togo

In this article for the New Internationalist, I reported on the Week of the Detainee - a unique event in Togo - that aims to highlight the plight of detainees in the West African country's 12 prisons.

The event, created by Togo YMCA, is little known in the UK. Now in its fourth year, it is one way Togo YMCA and UK charity Y Care International are trying to improve conditions in prisons and tackle Togo's exceptionally high levels of pre-trail detention.

A detainee delivers a speech at the opening ceremony.
Pic: Togo YMCA
Currently around 70% of the prison population of Togo's main jail, in the capital Lome, have never had their case heard by a judge. Many will wait years before anyone reviews their case, even after committing petty crimes, or in some cases, no crime at all.

You can read the full article on the New Internationalist website.