1 Apr 2009

Horror in Zimbabwe Prison

Zimbabwe has appealed for help for its prisoners after a documentary exposed horrific conditions in the country's jails, the film's producer says.

Shot secretly over months, a South African TV documentary reveals how dozens of inmates in Zimbabwe die every day of starvation and disease.

The film, which was aired on Tuesday, also showed mass graves in the jails. The film also showed how prison staff had converted cells to "hospital wards" for the dying. It said makeshift mortuaries had been built within the prison grounds, where bodies of inmates "rotted on the floor with maggots moving all around".

Inmates in the documentary were shown suffering from starvation and diseases as a result of living in unhygienic conditions in overcrowded prisons.

BBC

Below an older film: