First inmates released from Kinshasa jail in a bid to ease overcrowding

At least 7,000 inmates are to be granted conditional release from the Makala Central Prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a bid to ease overcrowding at the facility.

Located in Kinshasa, it is the country’s largest jail, built for 1,500 inmates in 1957, but now holding more than 15,000 people, including children and women.

Conditions are notoriously bad at the prison with inmates crammed into cells, eating poorly, and some…