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Niger’s main prison in its capital, Niamey, originally built to accommodate about 400 inmates, is currently holding nearly 1,900 prisoners, authorities said on Monday, showcasing the severe overcrowding in the facility.
The prison, constructed in 1947 during French colonial rule, now houses 1,895 inmates, according to the facility’s warden, Abdourahamane Foutah.
He disclosed the figures during a visit by Niger’s justice minister, Alio Daouda.
Foutah explained that the population comprises 399 convicted inmates and 1,496 detainees awaiting trial, bringing the prison’s occupancy rate to more than 400%.
According to the justice ministry, many inmates attribute the overcrowding to delays in the judicial process, saying their cases are moving slowly through the courts.
To address the problem, authorities began⁹ constructing a new prison facility in 2017 that will have the capacity to hold 1,500 inmates. The project, valued at about 12.5 billion CFA francs (roughly $2 million), is intended to replace the ageing Niamey prison.
Since seizing power in a 2023 coup, the country’s military leader, Abdourahamane Tiani, has approved sentence reductions for more than 10,000 prisoners. Nearly half of them have already been released in an effort to ease pressure on the prison system, according to Daouda.
Niger also operates a high-security detention centre in Koutoukale, located about 40 kilometres from the capital, where suspected jihadists and high-profile criminals are held.
That facility has previously been targeted by militant attacks in 2016 and 2019 by fighters attempting to free detained comrades, and several inmates also escaped from the prison in 2024.
Across Niger, there are around 40 correctional facilities, which collectively held close to 16,000 inmates in 2024.
Niger is not alone in facing severe prison congestion. Data from the World Prison Brief shows that several African countries, including Senegal, Benin and Ivory Coast, are also operating prisons at or above 300 percent of their intended capacity.
