Prisoners and Their Human Rights Situation

By Mofor Samuel Che
Some nine million people are found in prisons all over the world.
Of this number, about one million of them are found in prisons in Africa.

Call them prisons, rehabilitation , re- education or correction centres, they all serve the same purpose- i.e. a building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime they have committed, or while they are waiting for trial.

How good are our prisons?
Poor sanitation, over crowding, malnutrition, violence, homosexuality, STDs/HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, other infectious diseases, drug abuse and human rights are some of the characteristics of most of our prisons.

There has been a lot of condemnation and outcry on the manner in which our prisons and prisoners are being managed and treated respectively.

The situation in Cameroon ,in particular ,has let fast and easy transmission of diseases, poor feeding, inadequate sleeping space, rioting in the prisons as well as constant massive escapes by both prisoners and convicts amongst others.

Another disturbing factor has got to do with minors and innocent victims who are kept for very long periods without being heard in court.

Sometimes when taken to court, they may be found not guilty of the crime. It could be that some big gun or business tycoon or just any good for nothing idiot or even a prostitute having “connections” with someone upstairs to get innocent individuals locked up in prisons for crimes they never committed.

Some even lost their lives in the process. Even the introduction of the New Procedure Criminal Code is not helping matters as some of the law enforcement officers are still finding it difficult to part company with the old ways, after all, is it not said that old habits die hard?, or the great need for more court houses in the country to ease judicial procedures thereby reducing the current the current pressure on our prisons since suspects will be easily tried and those not found guilty set free so that our prisons can be decongested.

As far as human rights abuse is concerned, one area where human rights abuse is a cause for concern is our prisons. Even though much has been done to improve on the detention conditions of prisoners, a lot much still has to be done.

Ignoring the aspect of human rights as far as the health of our prisons is concerned, is like not talking about them at all.
How do government and other citizens treat prisoners?

Still in relations to human rights, does the government keep track of Cameroonians who are in prisons in other countries, whether they need government’s assistance or not? If yes what can their population be? What types of crimes were they charged of? In which part of the world do we have the greatest number of them? Has the government been giving them any form of assistance? What kind of assistance has the government been giving them?

On the other hand, if not much is being done to see into the plight of this group of Cameroonians, don’t the government think it is high time it begins to take action towards that direction?

Giving that prejudice, xenophobia, discrimination, ignorance and sheer wickedness and jealousy often make some of our compatriots victims of circumstances thereby bringing them in conflict with the laws of their host countries with some of them ending up in prison as prisoners or convicts. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that every Cameroonian gets a fair trial whenever they appear in court in another country.

Back at home, still concerning human rights, the rights of suspects (prisoners) are openly and flagrantly violated especially when they have to be taken or appear in court. Let’s take the case of Buea. They are paraded on the street hand cuffed from the Central Prison to either the civilian court house or the military tribunal as the case might be.

There is this case in Douala where prisoners were being taken to court in a vehicle that was not in a good state. The result being that the brakes gave way and the truck crashed into an electric pole. Thank God that the worst never happened!

Today the New Bell Prison has a brand new truck which transports prisoners to court to be tried. Must the powers that be wait for things to arrive at this stage before acting? Can the Central Prison in Buea not be given a brand new truck also to serve the same purpose as is the case with the New Bell in Douala?

Can the powers that be repair the damage and ridicule done to those who are not found guilty in court after having paraded them on the streets as criminals?

Does the government knows the harm it causes to such innocent victims as far as shame, humiliation and the battered image created in the minds and on the mind of the general public are concerned? Most of them often develop mental health problems and shy away from the public. Even the general public finds it difficult to accommodate them.

Government should stop paying lip service to the plight of our prisoners and prisons. The society at large must demand, as of right, better and improved conditions for prisons and prisoners from government.

We must neither separate society from prisons and prisoners and prisoners and prisons from the society.