Farming in Cote d'ivoire's prison

Saliakro/Abdijan — François Kouamé, prisoner Number 67,
proudly shows off a sow and her four piglets. Dressed in his
rubber boots, he passes by two new tractors as he happily
makes his way to a field where pretty soon cassava and
corn plants will start growing. "Look at those sprouts. It is
a lot of work!"
Being imprisoned in one of the world's most impoverished
country's is far from an easy ride. But Ivorian authorities
are searching for alternatives to the overcrowded prisons
and malnourished prisoners here. And they just may have
found the answer - in a farm.
The Saliakro Prison Farm, where Kouamé is currently
serving out the remainder of his one-year prison sentence,
is the first of its kind in Côte d'Ivoire. He was one of the first
detainees to be sent here in December 2013.
The 21 buildings on the farm, built on a former summer
camp, are to provide accommodation for 150 prisoners who
have been sentenced for less than three years for non-
violent crimes. Here they will learn new skills in farming.
For Kouamé, being on a farm is a relief compared to the six
months he spent in Soubré State Prison for cutting trees in a
neighbouring cocoa plantation.
"We were sleeping four persons in a space that could
contain only one person. And we were granted only a bowl
of rice per day," says the young man.
Now he eats three meals a day, and stays in a clean room
with 16 other prisoners. Each man has his own bunk bed, a
closet and plenty of space to move about in.
Mamadou Doumbia, 32, is serving a two-year sentence for
stealing computers. The quiet and articulate man is relieved
to be on the farm. He spent 11 months in Agboville prison,
in Agnéby Region close to Abidjan, the country's economic
capital.
He reveals a dark portrait of life in Agboville prison. Rape,
malnutrition and pests are some of the many things he says
he witnessed.
"I feel like being human again," he tells IPS.
Though life on the farm is no vacation. Inmates must wake
up at 5:30 am and be ready for work no later than 7am.
They work till 3pm, only taking a short break for lunch.
Evenings are their own to do with as they will, but they have
to be in their dormitories by 9pm.
Through the Saliakro project, Ivorian authorities and
backers hope to improve inmate conditions, reduce costs
and help reintegration.
Overpopulation and malnutrition
Côte d'Ivoire has relatively modern prison facilities
compared to the rest of West Africa, where most countries
have not invested in new prisons since the 1970s. In
neighbouring Ghana, the Jamestown Colonial fort only
ceased to be used as a penitential facility in 2008.
In Guinea-Bissau, the country had to wait for the United
Nations to build a prison in order to stop cramming
prisoners into what is now a beautiful colonial house,
renamed Casa dos Direitos or the House of Human rights.
Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia all have overcrowded
prisons dating back to the 1960s.
Still, Ivorian prisons were planned for another era. In the
Abidjan Detention and Correction Centre, known by its
French acronym MACA, overpopulation is an
understatement. The building, conceived in the 1980s for
1,500 prisoners now has a population of over 5,000.