There are no facilities reserved for women prisoners. Only the remand prisons of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire have a dedicated section for women. At the Ouésso prison, they are held in a building with minors, separate from adult men. In other prison facilities, women are held in designated cells.

The internal set of rules state that women and men can only be searched by staff members of the same sex (internal set of rules for remand prisons).

The Correctional Code stipulates that female prisoners must receive health care adapted to their needs. Female prisoners can request to be examined or treated by female doctors or nurses. These requests must be honoured if possible, except when the situation requires an emergency medical response. In this case, the examination can be performed by a man, in the presence of a female staff member (Article 90).

The authorities are required to guarantee women regular access to gynaecologists and education programmes on women’s health (Article 7).

In practice, female prisoners are “left to their own devices”, say civil society organisations. Their specific needs are not properly met.

Children living with their mothers in detention do not have properly adapted facilities.

Minors are subject to a specific justice system. They cannot be referred to ordinary criminal courts. They are only triable in juvenile court or juvenile criminal court (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 685). Each Court of First Instance and each sessions court must have a judge or court for minors (Article 691).

The law on the protection of children states that deprivation of liberty must be a measure of last resort (Law No. 4-2010 on the protection of children in the Republic of the Congo, Article 80). The following measures must be favoured, either individually or in combination with each other:

- order for assistance, guidance and surveillance

- intervention by social services

- fines, damages and restitution

- intermediate or other regime

- probation

- participation in group guidance meetings and other similar activities.

Minors do not have dedicated juvenile facilities. Boys and girls are sometimes held in separate cells or mixed in with adults.

The Brazzaville remand prison has two cells for minors. In Ouésso, incarcerated minors share a building with female prisoners. In Dolisie and Pointe-Noire, minors and adults are put together in the same cells.

The material conditions of imprisonment for minors are similar to those of adults, even in facilities where minors are separated from adults. Boys and girls may find themselves in dilapidated facilities that are overcrowded and poorly equipped.

Certain civil society organisations take action to help meet some of the needs of juvenile prisoners. Samusocial, for example, assists at the Pointe-Noire remand prison. The association handles meals and care for minors, many of whom were homeless orphans before their incarceration.

Other associations say they have had trouble gaining access to places of detention, as they have been unable to obtain the necessary authorisations from the prison service.

Observers state that minors have relatively better access to activities than adults.

The staff is not trained to deal with minors. Civil society organisations say that staff members are unfamiliar with legislation on protecting children.

The law places limits on the duration of pre-trial detention. These limits differ depending on the type of offence. The Code of Criminal Procedure states that: “In corrections, when the maximum sentence provided for by law is under one year of imprisonment, the accused resident of the Congo cannot be sentenced beyond 15 days after their first appearance before the investigating judge, provided that the accused has not already been convicted either for a criminal offense or to an imprisonment of over three months without the possibility of parole for a common law offence” (Article 120).

Pre-trial imprisonment (also called preventive detention) must not exceed four months in all other cases. The investigating judge can extend placement in pre-trial imprisonment by issuing a reasoned order. This extension cannot exceed two additional months (Article 121).

In reality, many people have remained in custody beyond this legal duration. Some spend over a year in prison. These are therefore cases of unlawful preventive detention. Organisations such as Fédération internationale des ACAT (FIACAT) and ACAT Congo are leading efforts to combat this issue, particularly through awareness activities and advocacy with authorities.

The law does allow prisoners to appeal against remand detention. Provisional release can be requested in any case and at any point in the proceedings (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 124).

Untried prisoners do not benefit from a special detention regime in line with the presumption of innocence. Many have spent several weeks or months in police stations, outside of the legal framework, before being released or transferred to a prison facility. In police stations, the prison conditions are even harsher than in remand prisons, particularly in terms of overcrowding and violence. In remand prisons, they share overcrowded dormitories with convicted prisoners.

There is no specific detention regime for prisoners belonging to indigenous groups. The Special Rapporteur also noted that “[…] indigenous persons held in detention were particularly malnourished, as, unlike most of the other prisoners, their families do not live in the vicinity and cannot therefore bring them food; the authorities apparently do not provide meals despite the fact that it is the State’s responsibility to do so.”¹

The prison service is required to guarantee specific arrangements and care for elderly prisoners and for prisoners with disabilities (Correctional Code, Article 81).

The prison service is required to guarantee specific arrangements and care for elderly prisoners and for prisoners with disabilities (Correctional Code, Article 81).