Makala Central PrisonAttempted Break
A structured incident summary covering the attempted jailbreak at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, including the official toll, later UN reporting, disputed details and unresolved evidence gaps.
Incident Overview
What happened
During an attempted jailbreak at the severely overcrowded Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, the government initially reported at least 129 deaths and 59 injuries.
Official accounts said 24 detainees were shot and that others died during the resulting chaos, including crushing, suffocation or stampede conditions.
Administrative areas, the infirmary or hospital, and food stores were also reported damaged by fire during the incident.
Later UN and human-rights reporting gave much higher casualty and sexual violence figures, meaning the incident cannot be treated as a single-source settled account.
Location and Naming
Makala Central Prison
Date: Overnight into Monday, 2 September 2024.
Location: Makala Central Prison, also referred to as prison centrale de Makala, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Area: Multiple sources place the prison in Kinshasa. Historical Human Rights Watch material places Makala in the Selembao area of southern Kinshasa. The exact street address was not verified in the incident-day sources reviewed.
Common public wording: attempted jailbreak, attempted prison break or attempted escape at Makala Central Prison.
View disputed details →Reported Tolls
Casualty figures vary sharply
The government’s initial provisional toll is not the same as later UN-linked and OHCHR reporting. The figures below show the main reported numbers rather than forcing a false single answer.
Chronology
Incident timeline
Reported Outcomes
Key details
Detailed figures
Injuries, deaths and reported violence
Disputed Details
Conflicting information
The source material contains major conflicts, particularly around the death toll, injuries, escapes and sexual violence figures.
Reports do not align on the total number of deaths.
129 dead, including 24 shot.
At least 150 detainees killed.
OHCHR A/HRC/60/84 later reported at least 406 detainees killed. This is materially higher than the initial government figure.
The injury total changed significantly between official and later human-rights reporting.
59 injured.
At least 200 injured / 200 injured.
Later UN reporting is substantially higher than the initial government figure.
Sources conflict on whether detainees escaped or were missing after the incident.
Authorities said no prisoners managed to escape.
Le Monde reported about 100 detainees escaped; Al Jazeera reported claims that nearly 2,000 fewer prisoners were in Makala after the incident.
The official account conflicts with later media and prisoner-rights claims.
Initial reporting referred to rape cases without a full count. Later sources gave specific and much higher figures.
Some cases of rape or women raped, without a full figure.
Reuters cited more than 260 female inmates sexually assaulted; MONUSCO/BCNUDH stated 268 reportedly raped; OHCHR stated 269 women raped.
Later reports also differ on deaths shortly after the rapes: MONUSCO/BCNUDH stated two women; OHCHR stated three women.
Not Verified
Unresolved details
The following points were not verified as single, source-agreed facts in the material reviewed.
Source Material
References
News, website, institutional and social media sources reviewed for this incident summary.
All Document URLs
Source Links
Direct links to all source material listed in the incident document.
