Since Tuesday, November 26, 2024, prisoners at the Mbour correctional detention center, who seem to be trapped in an infernal cycle of tragedies, have started a hunger strike. A collective movement of mood which emerges as a silent cry, a last burst of dignity in the face of the indifference of the authorities.
It all started with the death of Elimane Sarr, an old inmate of Room 13, who died last Monday, November 25, 2024, from intense pain in his feet. Evacuated to the Thierno Mouhamadoul Mansour Barro hospital in Mbour, the man did not survive, leaving behind a prison community plunged into silent sadness. But while the walls were still absorbing the sighs of this first departure, another bloody event reinforced the darkness of an already too long night.
In Room 17, two young detainees, Mbaye Niang and Babacar Hanne, engaged in a wild confrontation on Saturday November 23/2024. A confrontation which saw the rapid intervention of the Prison Administration. The two men, deemed too dangerous to stay together, were transferred to the solitary confinement cell, designed to break down violent ardor. Yet far from calming spirits, this isolation opened the way to a fatal outcome.
Despite a temporary lull between the antagonists, marked by the calming intervention of their fellow inmate Daouda Sarr, the night from Saturday to Sunday descended into horror. Around 3 a.m., Babacar Hanne, still mulling over his resentment, surprised his fellow prisoners in their sleep. Without a sound, he approached Mbaye Niang and kicked him violently in the mouth before squeezing his neck with deadly determination.
Waking up with a start, Daouda Sarr screamed and knocked on the door to alert the guards. The latter, rushing urgently, snatched Mbaye Niang from the clutches of his executioner. But the damage was already done. Evacuated to the hospital, the young man, plunged into a deep coma, finally died on Tuesday in the Emergency department.
The death of Mbaye Niang adds a new dark chapter to this series of dramas. In an outburst of anger against the Prison Administration, prisoners, particularly those in Malaw City, began a hunger strike. They denounce not only their long preventive detentions and the execrable quality of the food, but also the unbearable living conditions which prevail in the establishment. The controversial management of internal conflicts by the head of the court, in particular by placing Mbaye Niang and Babacar Hanne in the same isolation cell after their confrontation, particularly crystallized their anger.
The death of Mbaye Niang thus adds a new dark chapter to this series of dramas. In an outburst of anger against the Prison Administration, prisoners, particularly those in Malaw City, began a hunger strike. They denounce not only their long preventive detentions and the execrable quality of the food, but also the unbearable living conditions which prevail in the establishment. The controversial management of internal conflicts by the head of the court, in particular by placing Mbaye Niang and Babacar Hanne in the same isolation cell after their confrontation, particularly crystallized their anger.
In Room 16, reserved for sick inmates, but largely overcrowded, the strikers expressed deep bitterness. Designed for 50 people, it now houses 84, transforming this place into a stifling space where health deteriorates as quickly as hope. In November 2024 alone, two European detainees, aged 46 and 70 respectively, died in this room in the space of a week. It was also in this room that old Elimane Sarr was housed before being transferred to Room 13 where he suffered martyrdom for a long time, before dying, almost abandoned to his fate.
The Observer
