The largest prison in the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw an attempted mass breakout that resulted in the deaths of over 120 prisoners. This was the most recent in a string of deadly attacks on prisons in the country in central Africa.
At about two in the morning local time (9 p.m. ET) on Monday, inmates attempted to break out of the Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa in large numbers, Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango told reporters.
"The preliminary death toll is 129, of which 24 were caused by gunfire following warning. The rest perished from choking, asphyxia, and sexual assault, according to Bihango. He further mentioned that 59 patients were being treated.
Daddi Soso, a resident of Kinshasa, told Agence France-Presse that he witnessed security cars transporting dead from the location as shooting continued for several hours during the incident.
Numerous bloodied corpses were seen on the ground in a series of gruesome videos that went viral on social media but were not confirmed by CNN.
The interior ministry footage also showed extensive damage to multiple prison structures. The walls of the other buildings are black and burned out, with a sizable hole where bricks seem to have been removed.
Inside the prison, video footage revealed many destroyed rooms filled with trash, burned office furniture and paperwork all over the ground.
During the attempted prison break, fires destroyed several prison structures including offices, the registry, the infirmary and food depots; the minister reported to the press conference.
Following orders from the nation's "senior hierarchy," interior minister Bihango scheduled a crisis meeting of the defense and security forces for Tuesday.
He stated, "by the restored calm," the administration is relieved; meantime, investigations of the incident are still under way.
According to a recent Amnesty International study emphasizing the "appalling" incarceration conditions at the Makala prison, more than 12,000 prisoners—mostly pretrial detainees—were kept there before the attempted jailbreak even though the facility could only hold 1,500 persons.
Justice Minister Constant Mutamba denounced the effort at a prison break as a "premeditated act of sabotage" in a Monday social media statement.
As part of a set of actions he announced to address overcrowding in the nation's jails, Mutamba banned public prosecutors from moving any detainees to Makala prison "until further notice".
Common in the DRC, prison breakouts have resulted from multiple attacks on prisons in recent years.
Following an invasion by the organization, more than fifty prisoners—including the head of a religious sect— broke out from the Makala jail in 2017.
And in 2020, a rebel group connected to ISIS claimed credit for a jailbreak that released about 1,000 prisoners from a Beni, in northeastern DRC prison. That attack claimed at least eleven lives, including security guards.
Following year Matadi, one of the oldest jails in the nation, recorded another prison break with 189 convicts escaping. Following their seizure of firearms from the armory of the same jail, more than 200 other prisoners fled in 2022.
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