Recently we could read about the very difficult conditions in the Central Prison in Kisangani, on VG. It has been the last six weeks that’s been especially difficult with the prison being overcrowded, new violent prisoners, and threats against the two Norwegian prisoners etc. I sent a message of concern to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry about this. They say they follow the case closely, but they didn’t know about this apparently. Fortunately the embassy was informed by the boys directly.
I spoke to Josh recently. He said that there is an “inferno of noise” around the clock. The two Norwegians are woken up by the noise on average once every hour when they try to sleep. This has been going on for some time now. Last night, Tjostolv woke up 8 times in just a short time. It’s yelling, screaming, fighting, new inmates gets beaten up etc.
Even the ones who’s been in the prison for a while and are normally quiet, gets furious and the mood is testy and sometimes dangerous. Three guards (military prisoners) who are placed outside the boys’ cell to guard them, are very noisy now as well. One of them is an alcoholic, and when he’s drinking several days in a row, it’s impossible to get any peace.
In addition there is continuous lack of electricity and at times water as well.
Kari Hilde French, November 17th 2010
