(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/2012/November/121120/pb-121121-south-sudan-prisons-kb-3p-01.photoblog900.jpg)Dai Kurokawa / EPAAn inmate sits in his cell in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25, 2012.(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/2012/November/121120/pb-121121-south-sudan-prisons-kb-3p-04.380;380;7;70;0.jpg)Dai Kurokawa / EPAA female inmate looks out the prison door at Juba Central Prison in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 23.European Pressphoto Agency reports — Built in 1948 by the British colonial government, Rumbek Central Prison houses some 600 prisoners who live in overcrowded cells with virtually no access to basic health care, sanitation, as well as adequate food and nutrition.
Arbitrary detention is rife in South Sudan, says a 2012 report by the Human Rights Watch. All of several inmates interviewed, some of them on death row, said they had no access to lawyers or any form of legal aid. But it is merely just one of several human rights laws being broken at the prisons in South Sudan. Conditions in the country's prisons 'clearly do not comply with international or domestic law and standards on prisoners' welfare', the report continues. Those who are accused of or convicted of murder are often shackled for extended periods of time, if not permanently. And corporal punishment is often used to 'discipline' inmates such as being beaten with a stick or whip for fighting or disobeying prison officers.
NBCNews