The Christian Advocates and Ambassadors Association has called on Parliament to facilitate the immediate release of all intellectually disabled inmates held at Mohlomi Mental Hospital, citing inhumane conditions and unconstitutional detention.
In a letter dated June 12 and delivered to the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly this week, the group’s legal representative, Advocate Fusi Sehapi, described the conditions at Mohlomi as a “horrific ordeal” that violates the fundamental rights to health and dignity guaranteed by Lesotho’s Constitution.
The group said its recent visit to the psychiatric facility revealed that many of the patients, most of whom are criminally charged individuals declared mentally unfit, are being detained under appalling conditions without valid legal justification.
“It is the considered opinion of the Christian Advocates that most of the prisoners are being kept in the psychiatric hospital or prison unconstitutionally,” Sehapi wrote.
“The law that allows for such imprisonment, specifically Sections 166 and 172 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1981, is overly broad and flawed.”
According to Sehapi, the current legal framework compels magistrates to send mentally ill individuals to prison rather than considering alternatives such as conditional release and home-based treatment. He argued that this approach fails to uphold human rights and does not align with modern mental health care practices.
He also said conditions at Mohlomi are “not conducive to life or good health” and fall far below international standards. “The situation is spiritually, psychologically, and physically harmful. It is so dire that some patients who recover are pushed back into mental illness simply because they are not released and continue to suffer in such degrading conditions,” Sehapi added.
The group has urged Parliament to implement the recommendations made by the Ombudsman, Advocate Tlotliso Polaki, in October 2023, within one month, and to respond formally within 14 days of receiving the letter.
Polaki had previously raised alarm about the prolonged detention of mentally ill individuals, particularly in the hospital’s Forensic Unit. This section houses individuals detained under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence (Amendment) Act No. 4 of 2009, which gives courts discretion to send mentally ill offenders to psychiatric care. However, these detentions often continue for years without periodic review or clear discharge procedures.
The Ombudsman warned that such practices constitute inhumane treatment under Section 8 of the Constitution and further deteriorate the mental health of already vulnerable individuals.
Concerns over the state of Mohlomi Mental Hospital are not new. In July 2024, a parliamentary portfolio committee on the social cluster visited the facility and was told that it was “fundamentally unfit for its intended purpose.”
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