The Safety and Security Ministry’s, head of correctional facilities are currently at the negotiation table with an inmate, who is suing them over prison food that has caused him allergies. 

Carlos Feris, who is serving a 20-year sentence at the Hardap Correctional Facility in Mariental, is demanding payment of N$200 000 for discomfort and pain he had suffered for five years after correctional officers refused to give him a diet that was recommended for him by a health professional.

He claims that for five years, he has been forced to eat food he is allergic to, as the alternative would be for him to starve. 

He further claims he has had “mental battles” and is afraid every time he has to eat prison food because of the constant allergic reactions.

According to him, he even requested that his personal money be used for purchasing food items to supplement his diet – this was allegedly ignored. 

According to documents filed before the court, on 27 September 2018, dietician Mari-Louise Jeffery directed a letter to the Windhoek Correctional facility, stating that Feris’ diet needed to be modified as a result of a medical condition. 

“He is allergic to the following foods; therefore, these should be avoided at all times: wheat, maize, soya, seafood, nuts and peanuts,” reads the letter.

Jeffery recommended that the wheat and maize products be substituted with “potatoes, vegetables and fruits”. 

However, the correctional facility’s lawyer Alice Makemba claims that on September 2019, the dietician who prescribed Feris his diet in 2018 reviewed and prescribed a new dietary menu for all inmates housed at correctional facilities around the country. 

Makemba said the new diet caters to every inmate’s medical condition and also overrides previous dietary prescriptions.

She said Feris is not being truthful when he claims to have been in constant pain for five years due to allergies when he has been treated only twice: in April 2022 and April 2021, respectively. 

Furthermore, Feris has failed to substantiate that his allergies were a result of food he was forced to take when the laboratory results state that he is also allergic to pollen, dust and mold. 

Yesterday, Judge Herman Oosthuizen postponed the matter to 30 January for mediation. 

- mamakali@nepc.com.na