TV sets, rice and Criminal Procedure Code will add fun and make the football season brighter for detainees.

Smiles went across the faces of many inmates of the Douala Central Prison in New Bell June 11. The expression followed a donation from the Puene Françoise Foundation for Freedom, a local NGO, to enlighten hope among the prisoners who thought they would lose out on the 2014 FIFA football fiesta in Brazil.

The donated package consisted of 50 bags of rice of 50 kilogrammes each, 10 digital and analogue TV sets and 20 copies of the Criminal Procedure Code and handed over by the Founding President of the Puene Françoise Foundation for Freedom, Puene Françoise.

Speaking during a special ceremony at the prison to hand over the gifts, the representative of the inmates was of the expression that a detainee cannot be a person separated from society with such a timely gesture that only adds fun to their restriction.

Going by Marc Ancel, Puene said, “the prison is a high place of isolation and detention which should not be a place for exclusion and renunciation. It should rather be a place for an inmate to make a deep introspection of his/her life, envisage new horizons and think of a true insertion into society.”

Meditation, education and also diversification are indispensable activities, and Peune wants to contribute to governments actions in this area: “The choice of the Criminal Procedure Code we offer you this day is essentially linked to my personal experience as once an inmate, which allowed me to realize that not only a very large part of the prison inmates in Douala are on provisionary detention, but also that many of them were unaware of the procedures and judicial mechanisms which should allow them to benefit in order to improve or absorb their prison situation. It is therefore a working tool we are putting at your disposal and that falls within the NGO’s main objective to provide legal assistance to detainees.”

Prison Registrar Engonga Mintsang Diedonne expressed joy on behalf of the prison community saying the gifts were most welcome given that the national team, Indomitable Lions, will participate in the football jamboree. To him, the gift will improve the prison condition which is currently under consideration.