LES PRISONS AU CAMEROUN SOUS-ADMINISTRATION FRANÇAISE, 1916-1960.

The prison as a penal institution was unknown in the traditional Cameroonian societies before the 20th century. Introcduced by Europeans within a century, the prison institution stands out as one of their most visible legacies, as exemplified by dilapidated buildings found in the different towns that served as their headquaters. The structures estimated today at eighty as against about fifty during the french era and distributed accross the national territory, attest to the fact that the prison institution is at the centre of the penal system in Cameroon. Located in their major part in the heart of administrative headquaters, the prison centres so constitute an integral part of the urban architecture. Created for repression and to maintain order and provide manual labour during the French administration, the prison institution found a fertile ground for maximum expression in Cameroon as in French African colonies by way of indigenat, disciplinary powers and the administration of justice. Despite its high demand,the penal prison remained the least developed of all the European institutions established in Cameroon. It was neglected and abandoned in all its aspects, material and human. The reason is that the prison sector was never made a priority in the allocation of funds to cater for equipment structure, prisoners' conditions as well as those of the staff. This parsimonious allocation of resources was of historical importance. The inability of penitentiary system due to the absence of a reform to match the politico-juridical evolution of Cameroon was a proof of conservatism by French authorities regarding the prison sector. By failing to transfer a single prison from administrative headquaters to the periphery also reveals the absence of urban policy in Cameroon under the French. Meanwhile, indigenous inmates who were the 'administered' were treated like the 'colonised', regardless of the specific judicial situation that remained poorly defined. This goes to support the thesis that France administered Cameroon like a colony, and as far as the penitentiary system is concerned, like a sub-colony, given that the elaboration of prison legislation in the territory was largely inspired by metropolitan laws but mustly by those that had been tested in French African colonies. The reccurence today in Cameroon of some prominent problems such as dilapidated prison infrastructure and over-crowding in prisons portrays a deficit in the penitentiary policy of the postcolonial state since independance.