The non-governmental organization also stated that child prisoners are often raped by adult inmates. In addition, the prisoners are forced to clean the filthy and smelly squat toilets every day.

A prisoner named Mathieu tells that he cleaned 800 buckets of dirt in one night. Mathieu, who was imprisoned for protesting inflation, called New Bell truly like "hell". Every day, many prisoners die as victims of violence and hunger.

One of the darkest moments in prison history occurred in June 2008. At that time, a total of 16 inmates were shot dead after failing to escape from the prison.

"They took two automatic rifles to shoot at the guards who responded with deadly force. The guards on duty retaliated against the prisoners' gunfire. When the shooting subsided, 16 inmates were found dead and three others suffered serious injuries," according to a local radio broadcast.

Unfortunately, only two months later, nine more prisoners died in a fire that occurred in the Regime wing, which housed nearly 1,500 people. The fire also affected the maximum security prison in 2020, causing frightened prisoners to be trapped on the roof. Local residents were shocked as they recorded the suffering of the prisoners from the road outside the prison. In that incident, three inmates were treated at the hospital for severe burns.

he translation of the given text from Bahasa to English while preserving HTML tags is as follows: The condition of the New Bell, which is now four times its capacity, is becoming increasingly terrifying. In 2022, the Minister of Public Health of Cameroon announced a cholera outbreak. There were 29 reported deaths between March 16 and March 22. However, a different report was revealed by one of the prisoners there

And in the same year, a teenager named Jennifer told The Guardian about the prison conditions from inside New Bell. "Life here is crazy. If you don't have money, you can't survive. It's very hot and stuffy here." Five prisoners sleep in one bed, and there is no room to breathe. People are sweating, bodies are pressed together," she said.

However, behind the terror and cruelty, there is a unique phenomenon happening inside New Bell. A music studio named Jail Time Records was opened inside the prison in 2018 - something that is now considered a great success story.

One of the founders is a former inmate named Steve Happi who was imprisoned for killing his father. However, the accusation has been canceled. According to Happi, who returned to New Bell to record music, around 300 artists have used the music studio in recent years. The entry of artists into this prison is described as something that has changed the lives of many people in New Bell.