Mtangani GK Prison senior administrator, Purity Nkatha Muthaura, spoke with K24 digital, saying the request from the female inmates or even their incarcerated male counterparts cannot be permitted.

He added that it will be impossible to allow for such conjugal rights to be enjoyed unless a new law is passed by Parliament.

The pursuit to have conjugal visits introduced into the country started years ago.

In 2014, similar requests were made but the country’s detention centers were unsuccessful as the Government was not in favour of inmates having conjugal relations because the Government was not ready for such arrangements in the detention facilities.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises this year, which is affecting the prisons too, according to the International Rescue Committee.

The structures in the country are not conducive for the free man let alone those in prison. At least 17 prisoners have been reported dead over the past week in one of DRC’s biggest prisons, a charity says.

The causes of death, according to aid workers, were due to lack of food, medicine and poor hygiene.

The Makala Prison in the country’s capital, Kinshasa has been devoid of food supplies in the last two months, state officials confirmed.

“It’s terrible! People are dying almost every day,” a prison official, who did not want to be named, told the BBC.