Rome, Italy | AFP | Two prisoners who were invited to meet Pope Francis for lunch on his recent visit to Bologna took advantage of the occasion to escape, local media reports said Wednesday. The two men, who were being held in a rehabilitation facility for drug addicts and prisoners, were …
Read More »Plague-hit Madagascar bans jail visits
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Authorities in Madagascar Friday announced a ban on prison visits to prevent the spread of a plague epidemic that has killed 36 people in the Indian Ocean island. “In order to protect prisoners from the plague that is spreading outside the prison, we have decided to …
Read More »Pistorius under observation in hospital
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Jailed Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken to hospital Thursday for overnight observation, an official said, as local media reported he was suffering chest pains. Pistorius, 30, is serving a six-year jail term for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, …
Read More »JAIL BREAK: 900 inmates escape, 11 dead after Beni attack
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Eleven people were killed and more than 900 inmates escaped Sunday after unidentified assailants attacked a jail in DR Congo’s restive east, an official said. “The Kangwayi prison in Beni was attacked at 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) by assailants whose identity is not yet …
Read More »91 prisoners escape Brazilian jail, flee through tunnel
Sao Paulo, Brazil | AFP | A group of 91 prisoners escaped a jail in northeastern Brazil on Thursday by fleeing through a 30-meter (100-foot) tunnel, Brazilian media said. Nine of the inmates have been found, while police are attempting to catch the remaining 82 who disappeared from the prison …
Read More »British-Norwegian ex-soldier linked to Ugandan security firm, freed from DRC jail
Oslo, Norway | AFP | A British-Norwegian dual citizen who was serving a life sentence for murder and espionage in a Congolose prison was released and returned to Norway on Wednesday, authorities said. Joshua French, 35, was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for the murder of his cellmate …
Read More »Stella Nyanzi case moved to May 10
The cyber harassment case against Makerere researched Dr.Stella Nyanzi before Buganda Road Magistrates Court has been adjourned to May 10 to await the out come of a request she made in the High Court seeking a review of the no-bail-yet orders of trial magistrate James Eremye Mawanda. Chief Magistrate Eremye …
Read More »Byabashaija apologises to Jinja Magistrate over transfer of Kasese suspects
The Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons Johnson Byabashaija has apologised to Jinja Court chief magistrate Francis Kaggwa for failing to comply with his earlier court order to transfer sickly and elderly suspects in the Kasese killings from Kirinya to Luzira prison. Byabashaija’s apology was presented to court by his assistants, …
Read More »Gambian leader sacks head of notorious prison system
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s new president has fired the head of the national prison system, officials said Sunday, taking aim at a service denounced for alleged abuses under the former regime. President Adama Barrow on Friday “sacked David Colley, the director-general of the Gambia Prison Service”, a …
Read More »Brazil Riot: 60 inmates killed, many beheaded
Manaus, Brazil | AFP | Rioting inmates in Brazil decapitated and brutally assaulted their rivals, killing at least 60, when fighting erupted between two gangs at a prison in the Amazon region, officials said Monday. The 17-hour riot broke out Sunday afternoon and lasted through the night at a prison …
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