Inmates with mental disorders kept in holding cells due to lack of psychiatric wards

Breadcrumb

The number of people with mental illnesses detained in police holding cells in Namibia's coastal towns is on the rise due to a lack of psychiatric wards.

This was revealed by the commanders of police stations at Walvis Bay and Swakopmund when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence and Security visited the Erongo Region.

The committee was informed that detainees with mental illnesses stay up to three years in police holding cells.