read through and summarize the text

Chapter 2

Historical background of prisoners' rights before independence in Namibia 2.1 Introduction Promoting the reproduction of the dominating authority was the colonial prison's stated goal in colonial Africa, 1 and Namibia in particular, never had the goal of expanding the variety of correctional activities that had been created in western nations. Instead, they were founded on the implicit tenet of strictly limiting the consequences of incarceration. The goal of the colonial prisons which kept colonizers and Africans apart legally and physically was to support the continuation of dominant authority rather than to transform Africans. 2 This is believed that many African nations' criminal justice systems still bear traces of this colonial history. The criminal system that colonialists built was marked by brutality, flagrant breaches of human rights, and forced labor. 3 For instance, prison camps were frequently employed by colonial administrators to provide a ready supply of forced labor. The colonial empires were built on the backs of their prisoners, who served as cheap, docile and constantly available labor force for underpaid tasks. 4 Labour force turned out to be the most cost-effective way to accomplish long-term goals like building railway lines and roads to meet the economic needs of the colonial empires. 5 By so doing their basic rights were ignored by colonial administrators therefore prisoners never enjoyed the highest attainable standard of health and humane treatment. Namibia practiced the prison camp where prisoners were kept in order to be near to the locations where their labour was needed. 6 Administrators in prison camps used starvation as a form of punishment was also a typical occurrence. Some of the punishment administered in prison camps are starvation, electric shocks, cigarette burns, and sleep deprivation which were all typical forms of torture. These prison camps were overcrowded, filthy, and notorious for using torture and whipping open air detention facilities made of tents. The offenders were beaten and inflicted wounds as form of punishment. 7 After receiving such punishment, many victims' health worsened, frequently leading to death. 8 I have no doubt that this form of punishment contributed to a violation of the right to dignity and humane treatment. Moreover to life threating punishment that became so common in most prisoners. 2.2 Namibian before and after independence Most versions [what do you mean by most versions?] locate the development of the idea of the correctional as a place of punishment between the 17th and the 19th century. 9 The prison was a repressive organization during the colonial era. 10 Additionally [why foot noting additionally?], 11 there were no programs for rehabilitation; instead, the focus was on maintaining prison security and punishing the prisoners. Prisons were authorized by the government intended for the long-term detention of individuals as a penalty for major crimes[this sentence is not clear]. 12 During the 20th century 13 [your foot note is wrongly placed] after mistreatment of prisoners have been condemned by the public, saw the serial establishment of the big-house correctional, correctional facility and warehouse prison. This transformation of prison to correctional settings gradually started to improve but still the basic human rights especially health were not promoted. It is evident that the health of prisoners deteriorated and this was seen improving when the transformation of prison system to a correctional one which incorporated the rights of inmates. [there are contradictions in the yellow highlighted sections] Since gaining its independence, Namibia has been working hard to overhaul its criminal justice system, particularly the prison system. 14 In many ways, changing attitudes and perceptions had to come first in the long process of moving from a repressive to a democratic form of government. The replacement of the Prison Law of 1959 by that of Prison Act of 1998 ushered in a new model for the treatment of prisoners, which aimed to move away from retribution to reformation. The Act of 1998 15 and the newly amended Correctional Services Act 16 made provisions regarding health matters of prison inmates.[the yellow high lighted section is a copy and paste from chapter 1, therefore, a repetition] The two Acts primarily narrates the appointment, power and duties of the medical officer. While Correctional Services Act further stipulates the rights associated with the access to adequate health care for prison inmates. The relevant provisions that advocate for health 17 care are embedded in section 23 till section 30. Inference from those provisions one can see that it was drawn in order to ascertain exactly how inadequacies from the previous Act of 1958 have been addressed in the newly implemented legislative instrument. It is also evident that the access to health care and delivery of health care services were and still not fully executed as it supposed to be. [this is another repetition of chapter 1] Despite the appointment of medical professionals, there is just two doctors and few nurses employed permanently in correctional facilities. 18 Due to a staffing shortage, there are fourteen correctional facilities in the nation without a medical professionals. Consultations are done twice a week with the doctor who also serves as the chief medical officer of the prisons. Each nurse sees an average of 100 people each day while having consultations three days a week. 19 Some Correctional Clinic has a ton of medical research and care equipment at its disposal, but due to a staffing shortage, it is not in use. This is due to the fact that the correctional facilities utilizes inexperienced officers to help in delivering medical service like issuing prescribed tablets to inmates. Although some correctional clinic contains a fully functional dental office, patients with dental issues are sent to the hospitals due to a shortage of dentists and other medical professionals like nutritionists. 20 Inmates express concerns about the facility''s ability to provide them with a nutritious diet. This has led to the death of three prisoners since the year 2001. 21 Obviously correctional authorities do not intervene promptly to transfer sick people to hospital. 22 Several reasons are given to justify this delay: 23 lack of a vehicle for transport, insufficient staffs and fear of inmates'' escaping. Evidently, the correctional authorities are not informed about how serious the state of health of inmates and their health rights to access healthcare services and are often neglected in efforts intended to tackle the health issues in correctional facility. The health issues can be tackled by the active involvement of all stakeholders. [this is another repetition from chapter 1] In the case Ganeb v Ministry of Safety and Security and Another 24 The Court held the prison authorities were not complying adequately with the Prisons Act regulations stating that prisoners must be given food which has adequate nutritional valuevalue and which consists of a reasonable variety and is well prepared and served, that medical officers must regularly inspect all uncooked and cooked food, and that only rations according to a prescribed diet scale must be issued to a prisoner. This case ruling ascertain the right to nutritional, well prepared and served food to prisoners which will be relevant to prisoners who are having diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Lack of medical staff to educate inmates about AIDS and other health related matter in several correctional facilities since there is no information on their health needs, perceptions of risk and their well-being. 25 The correctional facilities use instructors from outside to sensitize the inmates on their health but this is not enough. This visits by the outsiders is done once in a while particularly the ones without medical services. However, AIDS education programs in such correctional facilities were typically intermittent and did not always use reliable instructional resources. 26 Information on all diseases can only be accessed or seen from near the clinics of these correctional facilities. Prisoners with AIDS or other diseases must be entirely bedridden and have their health status verified by three separate physicians in addition to the prison doctor, it when a decision is taken to help the sick inmates. This is blamed on congestion and shortage of staffs in correctional facilities. Correctional facilities in Namibia have a serious problem with overcrowding, which makes them more susceptible to illness. Even though there were no significant reports regarding correctional facilities conditions that raised human rights concerns during COVID-19. 27 The physical conditions in police holding cells remained poor. 28 Conditions were often worse in police holding cells than in correctional facilities. Human rights bodies and government officials reported overcrowding in police holding cells. 29 Most correctional facilities, however, were not overcrowded due to a stop on new admission of inmates during the time of COVID-19 outbreak. In correctional facilities, sanitation and medical assistance were inadequate. 30 About 100 prisoners at the Windhoek Correctional Facility had contracted Covid-19 and all these cases were recorded within the period of one week. 31 Lack of space at the facilities to keep those infected separate or isolating inmates with contagious stand to be a problem in all correctional facilities.

3.3 Conclusion It quite evident that Namibian prisoners experienced harsh treatment before and after independence. The practices are still continuing even after the transition from a prison to correctional facility, when it come to the indifferent health care offered. In Namibia, it has been observed that prison service were perceived to be of lesser importance in the Ministry of Home Affairs. 32 It was when the Ministry of Prisons Services (PS) was established in 1995. 33 To address the plight of inmates and to ensure human rights is observed. Since then, Namibia began transform and embracing prisoners' health rights. 34 A lot need to be done on tackling diseases in correctional facilities and to improve health for all.