Commonly referred to as a gulag (locally known as "Maremiya" which means correction center) it serves as the main prison of the country.

[2] It is 11 km south of central Addis Ababa, in Akaki Kaliti, the southernmost subcity of the nation's capital.

[3] Part of the prison consists of sheet-metal shacks arranged in a dense maze.

[1] A 2009 Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) report described overcrowding in the prison with hundreds of inmates being held in single, poorly ventilated cells.

They reported that individuals were exposed to tuberculosis, fleas, lice, that there was a lack of sanitation, that water for drinking and washing was insufficient, that inmates had to sleep on cold, concrete floors, and that access to medical care was nearly absent.