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Cameroon: Kumba Prison in a Shambles
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The Post (Buea)
3 April 2008
Posted to the web 3 April 2008
Olive Ejang Tebug Ngoh
The Kumba Production Prison is in a state of disorganisation and untidiness, a fact made worse by overcrowding, hunger, ill health, torture and extortion.
The prison is currently housing 400 prisoners instead of 200; the initial capacity.
A survey conducted by Niamh Brown, an intern with Global Conscience Initiative, GCI, has revealed that there are five separate cells housing 170 sentenced prisoners. The intern lamented that juveniles are being held in the same enclosure as the sentenced prisoners.
Niamh said there is one building for untried prisoners with a capacity for 50 people, but now hosts 230 prisoners. According to Niamh, there are 36 beds for 230 inmates with above 75 percent of the prisoners forced to sleep on the floor.
The researcher further revealed that the average weekly diet for the detainees consists of cassava and green vegetables, with an occasional scrap of rice and beans. She said the Prison Superintendent, Thierry Fopa Joel, told her that inmates eat meat and fish, which the prisoners refute.
She stated that one warden supervises the cooking of food while a few prisoners prepare it. She also said the prisoners disclosed that their food is always insufficient and they feel hungry most of the time.
Niamh also noted that there is acute shortage of personnel and medical supplies at the prison. She explained that the infirmary is unhygienic and too small to cater for all the prisoners, which leads to further illness instead of recuperation. She said the inmates reported that they are sometimes forced to pay for medical services they are supposed to receive free.
In the area of discipline, Niamh said there is intimidation, verbal abuse, beatings, denial of service and extortion by warders. She added that many inmates complained of lack of access to lawyers, lack of knowledge of their rights and court procedures, lack of judges, all causing delays in the delivery of justice.
It was on the basis of her findings that Global Conscience Initiative organised a workshop on March 22 grouping warders, police, gendarmes, civil society representatives and lawyers to produce a human rights manual for the prison. Unfortunately, the invited prison administrators did not turn up.
Topics presented were based on the general welfare of prisoners, health issues, untried prisoners, discipline, women and juveniles.At the end of the workshop, participants recommended that torture, assault and chaining of prisoners should stop. They proposed that government should increase the budget of the prison administration and improve the working conditions of prison staff.
The participants said access to legal aid be improved and rehabilitation programmes of prisons be developed. They also recommended that communication between personnel and inmates be improved; protection of minors strengthened and dialogue between police, gendarmes, the civil society and NGOs enhanced.
Barrister Daniel Ambo, GCI Chairman, told The Post that it was pathetic that the prison administrators boycotted the workshop. He said the absence of warders does not improve their scope on national and international prison administration.
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He, however, stated that the recommendations would be forwarded to the penitentiary for improved relationship in prison administration.
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