The Role of Law in addressing women´s Human Rights in Prisons

In the month of May 2011, the staff of OGCEYOD Cameroon paid a symbolic visit to the confines of the Buea Central Prison in the south West Region of Cameroon.

The staffs and inmates of the Buea Central Prison gracefully welcomed OGCEYOD Cameroon during a visit by the organization to make a donation to the female inmates of the prison. The donation was inspired by the presence of a 10 months old baby who was born in prison during his mother’s incarceration. The young lady of 24 years was arrested and charged with the suspected murder of her husband but she is pleading self defense and her case is still in court. To know more about her story and those of other women like her, a research was proposed with the human rights of female prisoners being its main aim. The two case studies for this research were the Buea and New Bell Central prison. The research topic was captioned: “The Role of the Law in addressing Women’s Human Rights in Prisons”.

After conducting and analyzing the research results gathered in the two prisons, it was discovered, that prisons in Cameroon are left at the mercy of good will. Both Female and Male inmates of these prisons had insufficient food, water and beddings.  The conditions of the female inmates were better than those of the males because female inmates make up the minority of the entire prison population.  This was not particularly the case with the Douala prison where the female population is increasing alarmingly. The organization donated items such as food and clothing both for the women and for the baby. These are the short term needs of the inmates. Proposals are being made by OGCEYOD Cameroon to provide a medium through which these women can be involved in some form of productive works within the confines of the prison walls.

This would give them some form of financial viability and help them as well as the administration to cater for their needs. Once again our organization used the opportunity to provide help for it’s’ target groups women and youths. The organization also discussed with prison authorities on how to provide for some of the needs of these women such as beds and beddings, better toilet facilities, more cooking utensils and some form of education to them and their children. More negotiations are going on and the organization plans to make another visit to the prison some time before the year comes to an end.