Makala Prison: Behind bars at DR Congo’s most notorious jail

Conditions are better in Makala’s VIP section, a separate pavilion that only the minority can afford – you get a bed and more space, for example.

Bujakera was asked the pay $3,000 (£2,280) to stay in VIP, but he managed to get this price slashed to $450 (£340) for his stay.

He told the BBC: “Economic inequalities between inmates create a hierarchy… the poorest are abandoned to their fate.”

What is more, wardens at Makala have little presence. Law and order inside the prison is effectively delegated to the inmates themselves.

“Prisoners govern themselves,” Fred Bauma, a human rights activist who was incarcerated in Makala from March 2015 to August 2016, told BBC’s Focus on Africa podcast this week.

“It’s like you’ve changed countries and there’s a new government and you need to learn those rules.”

This system of self-government is dysfunctional and leads to “harmful power dynamics, acts of violence and conflicts between inmates”, Bujakera said.

But Makala is not alone with its abysmal conditions – prisons all over the country are chronically underfunded and overcrowded.

According to the World Prison Brief, external project, DR Congo’s jails are the sixth-most overcrowded globally.

The authorities have acknowledged this problem on a number of occasions. Following Monday’s jailbreak, Deputy Justice Minister Samuel Mbemba blamed magistrates for prison overcrowding, noting that “even mere suspects are sent to prison”.

Many inmates have not actually been sentenced for a crime but are instead held in jail for months – or years – while waiting to be tried.

The food in DR Congo’s prisons has also been criticised widely.

In Makala, inmates get only one meal per day – and this dish is often of limited nutritional value.

Pictures taken by Bujakera show a tub of maize meal – a staple carbohydrate in DR Congo – turned hard and dry, accompanied by a watery brown vegetable stew.