Scabies outbreak hits overcrowded Onandjaba holding cells

About 20 trial-awaiting prisoners at Onandjaba in the Omusati Region are receiving treatment after a scabies outbreak hit the overcrowded police holding cells at the settlement.

The facility has a capacity of 60, but is currently home to 100, Omusati police regional commander, Commissioner Ismael Basson, said.

Namibian Sun has been informed that this number had increased to 104 by Monday.

Overcrowding

Overcrowding makes police holding cells and prisons prime breeding ground for certain diseases, Basson admitted, especially skin infections - but he quickly added that the situation is under control.

“This disease requires a high level of hygiene to be practiced by all inmates. Clothes, linen or blankets need to be washed regularly,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, scabies is a parasitic infestation caused by tiny mites that burrow into the skin and lay eggs, causing intense itching and a rash. Scabies can lead to skin sores and serious complications like septicaemia, heart disease and kidney problems.

Basson said the outbreak started in one cell, which houses about 20 people. They suspect that one of the inmates from another region already had scabies when they were arrested, and infected their fellow inmates.

“The nurses are there attending to them as we speak. We will contain it. It’s heavily contagious, but the nurses said once it’s treated, it will be controlled within a day,” he said.

Basson further refuted claims that the inmates were denied medical treatment. “And if that is being done, it is without my knowledge and I encourage my officials not to do that. We still afford the accused their basic human right.”

Cells are overcrowded due to the growing trend in inmate population density, Basson explained. The increase in crime, accused persons being denied bail and criminal cases being delayed in court contribute to the congestion, he said.

Inmates ‘not doing well’

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security visited the holding cells on Monday, with chairperson Leevi Katoma saying they made an urgent request for the inmates to receive medical care.

He told Namibian Sun on Tuesday that although he does not want to pre-empt the committee’s findings, what they saw in Onandjaba was “an eyesore” that confirmed the overcrowding of cells. The inmates complained that they were not taken to the hospital and that the disease was spreading, he said.

“We happened to observe that some inmates are not doing well. We heard it from the inmates themselves that they wanted to be taken to hospital for proper check-ups. The police could not allow them all to go out at the same time due to a lack of transport.”

Members of the police only started allowing inmates to receive medical care on Monday, Katoma noted.

“The way they were transporting four or six [inmates at a time] was not fast enough. They needed to be attended to faster due to the seriousness of the disease,” he said.

According to him, the overcrowding is caused by the fact that the Okahao holding cells in western Omusati are being renovated, and all those inmates were transferred to other police stations in the region.

As it stands, the combined cell capacity in Outapi, Okahao, Ruacana, Tsandi, Onandjaba, Etayi, Oshifo and Oshikuku is 309, but over 600 inmates are currently accommodated at these towns. Only eight of the 16 police stations in the region have detention centres.

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