On September 4 2010, Mohamed Nowsan, a 28 year old father of one, was arrested and interred in Tengalle prison. He claims that the charges against him were fabricated by the police and that upon arrest he was beaten by the officers.

Mohamed was imprisoned in Ward 3 of Tengalle prison in a cell designed for 20 pre-trial detainees. He reports that 37 inmates shared the cell with one toilet between them. Mohamed found it impossible to sleep, as the overcrowding was so severe that the detainees were constantly being woken up by others. According to Mohammed, all of the detainees only received 8 to 10 buckets of water a day for washing. If they overused the water, the guards punished them with physical and mental abuse.

In addition to the overcrowding problem, Mohamed reports that a considerable number of ill detainees went for weeks without medical attention, and others regularly used drugs like heroin, presenting a health risk to other prisoners.

Mohamed was eventually released after 28 days in prison. However his experience of Tengalle left him with the clear impression that “the only place worse would be hell itself.”