2 November 2009 -- On 31 October 2009, the UNAMID Rule of Law Prisons Advisory Unit in Collaboration with the GoS Prisons Service organized a visit to the prison institutions in Kabkabbya and Kutum. The purpose of the visit was to conduct technical assessment of the institutions to identify areas of support, particularly on infrastructure and prisoners’ rehabilitation programs.

The visit was an integrated tour with participants drawn from the UNAMID Human Rights, Gender, HIV/AIDS, Child Protection Units, UNAMID Police and Public Information giving support to the justice institutions including the prison system in Darfur. The United Nations Development Program also participated in the visit. The GoS side was represented by the Director of Prisons and his team, North Darfur.

In Kabkabbya, whose prison was refurbished by UNAMID Civil Affairs in 2008, the team toured the prison and interviewed staff as well as prisoners. There were 13 prisoners detained for various offenses, two of them females. The prison in Kutum, however, was found gravely dilapidated while hosting 23 prisoners, 15 of them women.

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