Free French and Moland!

I got to talk with my brother again. He said that since I last time asked him if there was anything that would be interesting to publish for our readers, he would now give me some detailed information on how it is for them in the prison on a daily basis. He tells me what happened on Wednesday January 13th. He dictated me:

Wednesday Tjostolv and I treated a person who was very sick from malaria. We gave him 2 paracetamol, 1 antibiotic because it was likely he had in infection in his body as well, and a malaria tablet.

In addition we gave him 2 pills of folic acid that prevents one type of Vitamin B deficiency (which is common with malaria).

At 3.15pm the prison warden came in to the prison to talk to the prisoners. He told us about a new rule in the prison, that military prisoners aren’t allowed to go to the hospital any more. They have to apply to colonel Wawara first.

This is yet another human rights violation, because an application process like this is not going to work. With acute malaria it can be only about hours, like it was on Wednesday with the “Rasta-man”. 

Many of our military friends in the prison got very worried on Wednesday because they know that with acute illness they can’t go to the hospital.

Tjostolv and I run the only “clinic” that the prisoners can get for free. We treat malaria, typhoid, skin infections, and internal infections, ear infections, broken legs and arms, malnutrition and deep cuts. But our recourses wares out and we don’t have a lot of medicine.

What happened Wednesday was one of many violations that I and Tjostolv face every day. They, who don’t give a crap about human rights, are directly responsible for murder because of lack of treatment that I and Tjostolv have witnessed for 8 months.

On Wednesday our friend Kiboba was beaten up by the discipline gang with the prison authority’s orders because he didn’t go in to his cell fast enough. This happened because I asked him to get a cigarette for another friend of ours. It’s very frustrating to see a friend be beaten up with big sticks because I in ignorance asked him to get a cigarette, in which he got to his cell 10 seconds to late. Kiboba took the hits with composure; the prisoners are used to be treated like this.

Tjostolv and I have treated very many of prisoners for fractures and deep cuts in the skin because of disciplinary reasons. Because of bad nutrition the wounds get infected and often take up to a month to heal with treatment.

The malaria is back in the prison. On Monday we bought 1 litre of diesel that we poured in to the drain to kill the mosquito eggs. We will do this every third day to prevent too much malaria. But the way the abuse carries on and the situation is hopeless for many prisoners here, so every single dead prisoner is a personal responsibility for the authorities in this region of Congo.

Tjostolv and I hold the local authorities personally responsible for every single murder and violation in this prison.  –Joshua French

I asked Joshua if there were any statistics of the number of deaths in the prison. He meant that according to the UN there is on average one death a week in the prison. He thinks this number has sunk since they’ve been put there. He is on the other hand very concerned for the malaria epidemic which is in the prison again. He also told me that he had heard screams from a neighbour cell. He said that it was probably someone who got beaten up. That is common here he says discouraged. We see this every day.