ACHPR/37/OS/11/437 15 Food The prison administration provides food in Cameroonian prisons. Prisoners are allowed to receive food from outside the prison. In most prisons, women prisoners are sent out to do the shopping for food items for both men and women prisoners. The menu is poor and the quantity inadequate. The common menu varied from fufu, corn/ millet, fish, green leaves and occasionally meat. Babies and infants detained with their mothers are not supplied with a special diet except for sometimes milk. Inmates take only one meal per day, at lunchtime, prepared by inmates assigned to work in the kitchen. Yet, they are not trained for this task. The delegation noted that prisoners are not allowed to request additional rations. Food is not well cooked and falls short of meeting minimum hygienic requirements. There are no standard kitchens and sometimes, food was cooked in open air and using unhygienic utensils. The Special Rapporteur tasted the food prepared by prisoners at the various prisons and noted that in addition to its being badly cooked, insufficient, and lacking good taste, it failed to meet the daily standard nutritional requirement for an adult human being. One notable exception, however, was the Mfou Women’s Prison where prisoners reported that food was satisfactory. With respect to police stations and the gendarmerie, inmates are not generally provided with food by the administration. They are, however, allowed to receive food from outside. The Special Raporteur raised her concern that some inmates may not have relatives or anyone to bring them food and may be left to starvation. She mentioned that some of them told her that they shared food so as not go hungry for days in detention. She also added that some reported that wardens refused to give food to prisoners brought by visiting relatives and friends, and at times help themselves to it. In general, prisoners complained of the quantity and quality of the food they received. In particular, the Special Rapporteur was concerned by the sight of many noticeably malnourished prisoners at Douala Central Prison (New Bell), which fact she brought to the immediate attention of the prison authorities. Contacts with the outside world Although the delegation was informed by the prison authorities that prisoners enjoyed visits from and maintained contacts with relatives and friends, the prisoners reported a number of irregularities: - There is no uniform visiting regime across the prison system; - Prisoners requesting to meet their visitors are harassed, and sometimes attacked (New Bell); - Visits arbitrarily denied (Marua Central); - Fees demanded of visitors and prisoners alike (New Bell, Bamenda Central) and the former subjected to excessive checks;