Yaounde: Kondengui prison wall collapses, inmates escape feared!.

According to sources close to the maximum security prison, the incident occurred yesterday afternoon. The section of the wall which collapsed is being estimated at over 15 metres. 

Though the exact cause of the incident remains unknown, some sources have linked it to the heavy down pour in parts of the Centre Region earlier yesterday.

Beyond this, critics say government should share in the blame for failing to improve on the quality of infrastructure for such a prison facility despite its known sorry state that has been begging for renovation.

Following the incident, reports suggest that some prisoners may have absconded the facility. 

Officials are yet to comment on the recent development in one of the country’s most dreaded facilities.

Meanwhile, some security officers were spotted at the site of the incident, examining the impact of the collapsed fence.

The Kondengui prison is host to some of the country’s high profile prisoners and hundreds of persons on pre-trial detention. 

Some Anglophone crisis prisoners like Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Nfor Ngalla, Mancho Bibixy, Barrister Eyambe Elias and Tassang Wilfred amongst others.

Also, political prisoners in the likes of Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC party bigwigs; Bibou Nissack, Prof Alain Fogue and a host of other MRC supporters are currently incarcerated at the prison facility in Kondengui. 

It should be recalled that the Kondengui prison has been cited in several national and international reports as being amongst several detention facilities in the country that are overcrowded.

According to a report published in April 2020, by the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA, the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison is said to be hosting about 5,000 inmates; far beyond the number it was originally constructed to contain.

CHRDA had corroborated other international humanitarian organisations in calling on Yaounde to decongest prisons across the country; especially in the heart of COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Kondengui fence now down, many have called on authorities to implement emergency security measures to avoid any escapes and unauthorised access into the prison.

As we went to press last night, there had not been any official statement from the government as to what actually happened. Authorities are also expected to update the public on the situation of inmates and what is being done to rebuild the fence.

All attempts to get officials of the Kondengui prison confirm or refute claims that some inmates had escaped in the wake of the collapsed wall were futile.