ACHPR/37/OS/11/437
17
restaurants, tailoring, magazines, newspapers and books hire, knitting, and
selling a long array of items.
With respect to education, the delegation observed that formal education in
Cameroonian prisons is limited due to similar reasons as mentioned above.
Some attention, however, is given to the educational needs of juveniles for
whom, only in some prisons as Bamenda, particular attention is paid. In
Bamenda Central, for instance, the juvenile section has a juvenile
reformatory school with two classrooms, and a basketball field. The
delegation was informed that the Ministry of Education provided for the
teachers in collaboration with the wardens.
With respect to religious activities, Cameroonian prisons and police stations
generally allow and even encourage their practices. In those prisons wherein
there are found social workers, the latter provide advice to raise awareness
about HIV/AIDS.
Open air and restrictions
Generally, in most prisons, inmates lived by strictly applied open-air hours
usually running from 8:00 am. - 5:00 pm. This, however, might vary
depending on the sufficiency of staff and congestion. In police stations and
the gendarmeries, such an open-air relaxation is a luxury. In addition to the
control being strict.
Rules, discipline and sanctions
Prisoners are normally informed of the internal rules, regulations and
sanctions of the respective prisons at the time of their incarceration. This,
however, is not true according to some inmates in Yaounde, Duala, and
Bamenda Central Prisons. Most claim that they are In some Central Prisons
like, Bamenda and Bafang, there has been attempts to post such internal
rules on prison and/or cell walls. The Special Rapporteur, however, notes
that it was not able to access copies of the various logbooks for recording
complaints.
With respect to disciplinary measures and/or sanctions, the delegation noted
that there are two main ways of sanctioning inmates across the prisons:
solitary confinement, and chaining. Although the procedure for committing
inmates to solitary confinement was not clear, the delegation noticed several
inmates under solitary confinement. It visited the insides of all such cells and
held discussions with the inmates. In almost all cases, inmates complained
of arbitrary application of the sanction. With respect chaining, inmates
complained that the chain was thick, harmful to the hand, and was applied
randomly. There is no distinction between those awaiting trial and those
convicted.
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