Prisons: Decongestion is now a must to avoid more disasters!

A mixed squad of military, gendarme and police shot and killed 15 prisoners as they tried a planned escape from one of Cameroon's most populous prisons.Two more prisoners were killed in the same way the next day, bringing the total to 17.This was one of the worst tragedies in any prison in Cameroon in recent memory

Yemti Harry Ndienla

That incident was only the latest in a series of escape attempts in prisons in Cameroon. Inside the prisons themselves so many more harrowing incidents take place.

We put much of this to the excessive over-crowding of prisons. The New Bell prison, for instance, that was designed for 700 inmates presently houses more than 3,000! Yaounde and Bafoussam prisons are even more crowded.

Over-crowding causes its own problems of which mutual irritability, violent fights and sexual immorality of all sorts are common happenings.
In the end one of the most important purposes of imprisonment which is reflection and moral reformation is defeated.

The solution is everybody’s guess. Decongestion, decongestion, decongestion! Decongestion is achievable by expanding prison capacity. But also in the short run by releasing un-sentenced prison detainees who are the main cause of over-crowding.

There is need to expand prison capacity. The ideal is to have one person per room. Instead of expanding existing prisons we suggest the building of more, if smaller, prisons. A prison in every administrative division seems ideal.

No doubt decongestion will make prison management a lot easier and far less risky.
The killings of last week were easily criminal and barely pardonable. They must never happen again