Constitution Watch 9/2019
Death in Custody – Rights of Prisoners
27 October 2019
CONSTITUTION WATCH 9/2019
[27th October 2019]
Death in Custody : Rights of Prisoners
According to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, eleven street vendors were
arrested on the 12th October for assaulting a police officer, having taken refuge
in the cellar of a building in the centre of Harare in which a large number of old
police helmets were found. The vendors were later taken before a magistrate,
who remanded them in custody pending consideration of their applications for
bail.
One of their number, a young man named Hilton Tamangani, was found dead
in his cell in the Harare Remand Prison on the 18th October. His death was
announced by the Ministry of Information in a statement which read in part:
“The individual was remanded in a condition of unwellness and immediate
medical care was sought for him and he was hospitalised.
“He was attended to by doctors. All deaths in custody are thoroughly
investigated. We now await the result of a post-mortem to ascertain the
cause of death.”
Mr Tamangani’s lawyers claim that he was severely beaten by the police. They
have released a copy of a letter they wrote to the Officer in Charge of the
Harare Remand Prison, in which they said:
“Our client has advised us that he has developed a fatal infection whilst
being medically attended to at your premises, Harare Remand Prison
Clinic. In the premises, we are approaching your office to request that our
client be attended to by a private doctor of his choice. Our client undertakes
to pay the requisite medical costs.”
The prison authorities, the lawyers say, refused to accept the letter and so Mr
Tamangani was not examined by his own doctor before his death.
Violation of Constitutional Rights of Prisoners
Whatever the cause of Mr Tamangani’s death, the events surrounding it show
a deplorable disregard for his constitutional rights as a prisoner.
Section 50(5)(c) of the Constitution provides that anyone who is detained has
the right to communicate with, and be visited by, their relatives, their chosen
religious counsellor, their chosen lawyer and their chosen medical practitioner.
The right to be visited by all these people is important, but it is particularly
important for prisoners to be allowed to see their medical practitioners, as Mr
Tamangani’s case so tragically demonstrates.
There are at least three reasons this right is so vital:
1. Prisoners are in the custody of the State which means the State is
responsible for ensuring their health and well-being. If medical facilities in
prisons are inadequate ‒ and it is notorious that they are basic at best and