Cameroon Archbishop decries inhumane prison conditions and corruption

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

“The way we treat prisoners is a measure of our relationship with God. Ignoring their suffering means ignoring Christ. Committing ourselves to alleviating their suffering and restoring justice means serving Christ.”

Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala, Cameroon, offered this reminder in a pastoral letter on prison conditions published at the end of June, reported the Vatican news agency Fides.

In the text, which recalled Jesus’ teaching that we hear in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, “I was in prison and you came to visit me,” the Archbishop explained that the letter was “intended as an act of truth and pastoral charity, born not out of a spirit of controversy, but from a sense of duty and urgent compassion.”

Systematic injustice

Its purpose, he stated, “is to denounce the systemic injustice surrounding the arrest, detention, and imprisonment of many Cameroonian citizens.”

The letter, the Archbishop underlined, “seeks to expose the intolerable practice of abductions and solitary confinement, the degrading and abusive conditions in police stations and gendarmerie posts, the reality of the prison system, the corruption that plagues the entire judicial system, and the frequent violations of criminal procedure.”

The Archbishop first highlighted the plight of missing persons, saying, “People are arrested and abducted, often without a warrant, by officers in uniform or in civilian clothes. They simply disappear, only to be held in secret locations. Their phones are switched off and every trace of their whereabouts is erased.”

He said their “terrified families move from one police station to another, from courthouse to barracks, only to encounter denial, indifference, or even threats.”

‘Blatant violation of the law’

“This practice of secret detention in unknown—and sometimes unofficial—locations,” he emphasized, “constitutes a blatant violation of the law.”

He went on to condemn conditions inside the country’s official prisons, suggesting that access to medical care is “little more than an illusion,” adding that prison clinics are poorly equipped and medical staff are overwhelmed.

“Contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, scabies, and typhoid spread uncontrollably,” he deplored, noting, “Prisoners living with HIV or diabetes see their health deteriorate rapidly because of the lack of treatment.”

He said that food, deficient in both vitamins and calories, is insufficient to sustain inmates whose health is already compromised.

Thus, he noted that their survival “often depends on support from relatives or on the prison black market.”

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Concern for women and minors

Archbishop Kleda also expressed great concern for women and minors.

He lamented that women in detention “lack access to basic feminine hygiene products,” and that “some are imprisoned together with their infants, whose future is compromised as they grow up behind bars without conditions conducive to normal development.”

“Minors, who should be separated from adults and provided with appropriate educational support,” he also decried, “are often abandoned to themselves, exposed to the law of the strongest and to various forms of abuse and exploitation.”

The Archbishop argued that these abuses are made possible by “corruption and perversion of justice.”

Blaming widespread abuse of pre-trial detention, he observed: “What should be an exceptional measure has become the norm, often lasting for years and effectively turning people presumed innocent into convicted prisoners.”

This denial of justice, he explained, “amounts to a double punishment: deprivation of liberty and the denial of the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.”

An appeal to respect dignity

Finally, Archbishop Kleda reiterated that imprisonment should serve both to “protect society and provide convicted persons with an environment where, in full respect for their dignity, they can reflect, repent, and acquire the skills necessary for successful reintegration into society after their release,” as he appealed to the conscience of all to treat prisoners with respect and dignity.

Pope Leo XIV made an Apostolic Journey to the nation during his April 13–23 Apostolic Journey to four African countries.