Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala has issued a fierce condemnation of Cameroon’s penal system, exposing severe abuses and widespread corruption.
A pastoral letter, published via Vatican agency Fides, denounces the systematic injustice torturing the nation’s hidden and forgotten souls.
The prelate bared a grim reality where uniform-clad officers orchestrate forced disappearances, casting terrified families into desperate, blind searches.
Behind official bars, a darker tragedy unfolds as unchecked contagious diseases sweep through packed, poorly equipped medical clinics.
Starvation-level rations leave vulnerable inmates dependent on expensive black markets, effectively turning basic human survival into a transactional luxury.
Wandering eyes of justice ignore detained minors, who are abandoned to exploitation instead of receiving mandatory, protective educational support.
Systemic rot enables these horrors, transforming exceptional pre-trial detentions into multi-year sentences that strip away the presumption of innocence.
Archbishop Kleda concluded with a soaring appeal, demanding authorities honor human dignity and transform prisons from dungeons into rehabilitative sanctuaries.