Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- A huge fire reportedly started by a condemned prisoner at Algeria's Chelghoum El-Aid prison, in the Constantine Prefecture, some 450-km east of Algiers, has killed 20 inmates and injured a dozen others, reliable sources said in the Algerian capital Wednesday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- An independent judicial commission has recommended the release of political prisoners filling jails in Burundi. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in sub-Saharan Africa with 355 prisoners to 1 000 civilians, is to start a pilot community service programme later this year in a move to reduce the country's prison population. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Sudan's police chief, Gen. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- Some 116 prisoners condemned to death for violating the common law in Algeria, have been pardoned by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, an official statement said. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- The International Foundation of Charity Associations (FKIAC), or the Kadhafi Foundation, named after Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Kadhafi, has secured the release of 177 Libyan prisoners convicted for various offences. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Some 71 foreigners serving prison terms in Mauritius are to be repatriated soon, officials said Friday in Port Louis. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Eritrea announced Wednesday that it had repatriated 24 Ethiopian prisoners of war for health reasons. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African government plans to build new generation prisons, Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana, whose ministry is also in charge of prisons, said Wednesday. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Five armed robbers were sentenced Wednesday to a total of 360 years in jail after being found guilty in a cash-in-transit robbery on 26 July 1999 in Benoni in the East Rand. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- An outbreak of cholera killed 40 prisoners last week at the Man civilian prison, 585 km north-west of Abidjan, the official national redio reported Tuesday evening. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Malawi police have launched a manhunt for three murder suspects who escaped from Chichiri prison of Blantyre early Sunday. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- More than 180 delegates from 95 countries would convene in Johannesburg on Saturday for a Council meeting of Prison Fellowship International. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- A regional meeting on prison services, which opened in the Namibian capital Thursday, has identified overcrowding as a major problem facing prisons and correctional institutions in Africa. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Security has been tightened at Maula Prison in the Malawi capital Lilongwe following a fatal escape bid by four prisoners over the weekend. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Malawi's longest-serving prisoner, Abasi Rabson Khereketekhe, one of the 880 convicts pardoned by President Bakili Muluzi as part of the country's independence anniversary celebration, is coming to terms with life outside the prison walls. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian social security, national solidarity and reform institutions minister Samioullah Lauthan launched Thursday a training centre for prisoners at Petit Verger, 10 km west of Port Louis. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Fresh from serving 35 years in jail for the murder of one of Kenya's eminent freedom fighters, Nairobi ex-convict Kisilu Mutua, wants to meet the world's longest jailed political prisoner, former South African President Nelson Mandela. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Thirteen prisoners escaped from Namibian jails last year, according to the Prisons and Correctional Services Ministry's annual report. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia recorded 13 prisoners escaping from its prisons countrywide last year, says a Ministry of Prisons and Correctional Services annual report. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican Justice Minister Jose Abudo has said that the government will continue in its efforts to improve living conditions in the country's prisons. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- With 355 prisoners per 1,000 inhabitants, Namibia is among countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the highest incarceration rates, the ministry of prisons and correctional services in Windhoek says. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Two British experts are presently in Mauritius to study conditions in the country's prisons. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The NGO International Prisons Fraternity, run by a group of American volunteers, has given health care and medicines worth 30 million CFA francs to some 3,000 inmates in Benin's civilian prisons of Cotonou, Abomey, Lokossa and Parakou. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The gates to virtually all Ivorian prisons have been closed for two days following a strike called on 2 June by the National Union of Prison Warders (SYNAPAP-CI). Full text...

N'Djamena- Chad (PANA) -- More than 30 Chadian prison wardens are attending a four-day meeting in N'Djamena to acquaint themselves with UN regulations for the treatment of prisoners. Full text...

Keetmanshoop- Namibia (PANA) -- Keetmanshoop Rural Constituency's councillor Albert Krohne has praised plans by Namibia's Prisons and Correctional Services minister Marco Hausiku to introduce community service for offenders sentenced to less than a year. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Lawyers sent by the Mozambican Human Rights League to investigate the prison conditions of those detained after the 9 November clashes between the police and demonstrators organised by the main opposition party Renamo have uncovered a vast range of illegal and brutal behaviour. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The Mauritian government plans to construct three new prisons to cope with the increasing number of detainees, Social Security and National Solidarity Minister, Samioullah Lauthan said Friday. Full text...