Kaliti Prison
| Location | Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 8°54′51″N 38°45′52″E / 8.914189°N 38.764308°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Population | Approximately 8,000 (as of 2012) |
| City | Akaky Kaliti, a subcity within Addis Ababa, the capital |
| Notable prisoners | |
| See text | |
Kaliti Prison (also spelt Kality Prison, Kilinto Prison or Qilinto Prison) in Addis Ababa is one of the several federal prisons of Ethiopia. Commonly referred to as a gulag, it serves as the main prison of the country. It is 11 km south of central Addis Ababa, in Akaky Kaliti, the southernmost subcity of the nation's capital.
The original prison compound is a makeshift structure that was built after 1991 when the Derg regime fell and was not intended as a prison. Most of the structures built by 2004 had been built by prisoners by their own means and with help from NGOs.
Part of the prison consists of sheet-metal shacks arranged in a dense maze.
Within the prison there are 8 zones (however zone 8 is not in use according to the recollection of Martin Schibbye). The group Zone 9 bloggers is named after a non-existent ninth zone.
Around 2012, the prison held approximately 8,000 inmates. A 2009 Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) report described overcrowding in the prison with hundreds of inmates being held in single, poorly ventilated cells. They reported that individuals were exposed to tuberculosis, fleas, lice, that there was a lack of sanitation, that water for drinking and washing was insufficient, that inmates had to sleep on cold, concrete floors, and that access to medical care was nearly absent. They also reported that "complaints against all these human rights violations being severely punishable". Personnel at the prison are known to have tortured inmates.
A fire broke out on 3 September 2016 and continued on until the next day. Prisoners attempted to escape during the chaos, and gunshots were heard. Two prisoners were claimed to have been killed trying to escape, while 21 other inmates were said to have perished from "stampede and suffocation". At least 23 people were killed in total. The fire comes during the deadly nationwide 2016 Ethiopian protests, and may be related.
Siye Abraha, a leader of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, stated he believed that around 99% of Kaliti's prisoners are Oromo.
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