According to statistics from Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), between June and October, the country’s 13 correctional facilities received more than 13,000 inmates in six months. Figures from RCS show that the total number of people in correctional facilities was 88,676 by early November. ALSO READ: Prison population on the rise despite decongestion efforts During an interview, Justice Minister Emmanuel Ugirashebuja explained the reasons for the high number of people being sent to prison. Among these is increased trust in the justice system which makes people report cases often. Ugirashebuja said: “First of all, over the years there have been a number of reforms in the justice sector. By and large, this has led to confidence in the justice sector. In the past, there were many cases that were not being brought to the attention of the justice sector because people did not have confidence in it. ALSO READ: Gov’t to save Rwf15b annually in prisons decongestion “But after building the confidence, almost each and every crime is reported which is not a bad thing by the way.” He said new investigation tools and facilities such as the Rwanda Forensic Institute (RFI) were established and play a role in gathering evidence used in court. ALSO READ: Rwanda to introduce virtual visits in prisons “Years before establishing the forensic laboratory, many cases went untried especially those that required scientific evidence,” the Minister noted. He also talked about new crimes that were not common in the past, for example, petty theft that targeted electronic gadgets. “Currently, one of the most common is petty theft of things like phones and computers. We did not have much of these crimes in the past,” he noted. According to the 2022/2023 judicial report, petty theft was among the top three crimes in Rwanda, with 9,979 cases reported to courts between June 2022 and 2023. “We should know where the crimes are and try to get the solutions. If you prevent crimes, even the congestion in prisons will reduce,” he said. Giving an example of challenges in pretrial detention, Joseph Nkurunziza, the president of the African Democracy Forum, a regional network for civil society organizations, said some problems in the justice sector are caused by law enforcers’ lack of adequate knowledge of human rights. Nkurunziza said: “The criminal procedure says pretrial detention should not exceed 30 days but you find that it might go beyond that. And you find that as people delay in pretrial detention, others come and prisons are overcrowded.” “We should make sure that the law enforcement officers are well versed with these procedures so that their actions are implemented in a lens that does not jeopardise human rights.”
