More than 30 inmates of the Bafatá High Security prison in eastern Guinea-Bissau today began a hunger strike in protest against the ban on leaving the cells to the prison resting yard.
© Lusa
14/09/2026
by
Lusa
A information is advanced by the radio Sol Mansi of the Catholic Church, citing family sources of inmates, consulted by Lusa on the social networks of the station.
The hunger strike was allegedly decreed by the shortage of prison guards in the detention center of Bafatá, whose six agents are currently on leave for courses in Bissau.
According to the same sources, the head of the establishment would have ordered no replacements of the missing agents.
“ Due to the lack of personnel to ensure the surveillance and movement of inmates, they report (to the family) who remained locked in cells for more than 24 consecutive hours during the last Sunday, without access to the courtyard ", writes the radio Sol Mansi.
As a way of denouncing the situation, more than 30 inmates today started a hunger strike for an indefinite period of time until they are restored to the prison yard, the station adds.
Radio Sol Mansi indicates that he has tried “on several occasions” to contact the prison officers in Bafatá and the Ministry of Justice’s communications office to obtain clarifications on the case, but has not received any official reaction so far.
The delegation of the Lusa agency in Guinea-Bissau has been suspended since August 2025 after the expulsion by the Government of the representatives of the Portuguese media. Coverage is being secured from a distance