Matsapha (Manzini)

Matsapha Correctional Centre

Status

In use

2025

Type: Prison or pretrial detention centre (Criminal)

Custodial Authority: Not Available

Management: Not Available

Detains: Adult men, Criminal detainees (convicted or remand), Undocumented migrants (administrative)

Conditions complaints? Capacity Reported population
YES

2024

No Data
No Data
Eswatini

1,295

Refugees

3,164

Asylum Applications

To country overview
ABOUT

The Matsapha Correctional Centre is a high security prison in Eswatini that has been criticised for its poor treatment of detainees. In July 2025, the United States deported five immigration detainees from third countries to Eswatini, who were reportedly placed in solitary confinement at this prison as they awaited the outcome of their deportation to Eswatini. As of October 2025, four of the detainees were still being held in the facility without charge or access to legal counsel.


NEWS & TESTIMONY
2025

"A Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without charge or access to legal counsel [...]

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FACILITY NAMES
Matsapha Correctional Centre
Location

Country: Eswatini

City & Region: Matsapha (Manzini), Africa

Contact Information
Matsapha Correctional Centre
P O Box 422, Manzini
Tel. (+268) 518 4266\8\4
Web https://www.gov.sz/index.php/component/content/article/1374-matsapha-correctional-centre

MANAGEMENT & BUDGET

Center Status
Status
Year
In use
2025
Facility type
Category
Type
Year
Criminal
Prison or pretrial detention centre
2025

DETAINEES

Demographics

Adult men

2025
Categories of detainees

Undocumented migrants (administrative)

2025

Criminal detainees (convicted or remand)

2025
Countries of Origin

Country #1 Cuba

Country #2 Vietnam

Country #3 Laos

Country #4 Yemen

Country #5 Jamaica

2025

SIZE & POPULATION

LENGTH OF DETENTION

OUTCOMES

CONDITIONS

Inadequate conditions
Inadequate Conditions
Obvs. Date
2024

CARCERAL INDICATORS

STAFF

SEGREGATION

CELLS

COMMUNAL SPACE & ACTIVITIES

HEALTH

MONITORING & ACCESS

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

NEWS & TESTIMONY

2025

"A Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without charge or access to legal counsel under the Trump administration's third-country program, his U.S.-based lawyer said Wednesday. ... "My client is arbitrarily detained, and now his life is on the line ... I urge the Eswatini Correctional Services to provide Mr. Mosquera's family and me with an immediate update on his condition and to ensure that he is receiving adequate medical attention. I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini."


"Across Africa, and in the tiny nation of Eswatini, fury has erupted over the arrival of foreign deportees from the United States, after its government confirmed that migrants described by a Department of Homeland security spokesperson as 'depraved monsters' had been sent to its prisons. Roughly the size of New Jersey, Eswatini — formerly known as Swaziland — is governed by a monarch who has absolute power. On Wednesday, officials said that five deportees from the US were being held in isolated units in its jails, acknowledging 'widespread concern' but insisting the deported men 'pose no threat to the country or its citizens.' The five men are being kept in solitary confinement, acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli told CNN Friday, but stopped short of disclosing the prisons they were held in, citing security risks." (CNN, 18 July 2025)