CAR / BERBERATI PRISON NUTRITION

Eighty-nine inmates of a Central African Republic’s prison in Berberati, share small balls of cassava and the vegetable soup - their only meal of the day. MINUSCA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:30
• Production Date: 13 June 2019
• Asset Language: French
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS MULTIDIMENSIONAL INTEGRATED STABILIZATION MISSION IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - MINUSCA
• Subject Topical: FOOD SHORTAGE; PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
• Geographic Subject: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
• MAMS Id: 2407604
• Parent Id: 2407604
• Alternate Title: unifeed190613c

Description

STORY: CAR / BERBERATI PRISON NUTRITION
TRT: 3:30
SOURCE: MINSUCA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH /NATS

DATELINE: 20 MARCH 2019, BERBERATI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, prisoners carrying food inside Berberati prison
2. Wide shot, exterior, Berberati prison
3. Wide shot, people fetching water in front of Berberati prison
4. Wide shot, Flavine walks to the kitchen area
5. Wide shot, prisoners (blurred) making food
6. Close up, casava flour being cooked
7. Med shot, prisoners (blurred) making food
8. Close up, portions of cassava flour
9. Med shot, prisoners distributing the food to the other inmates.
10. Close up, food received by the prisoners
11. Me shot, food distribution
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Natacha Flavine, Intendant of the Berberati prison:
"Since I took the service, I receive 200 000 (USD 350) francs per month for the prisoner's food.”
13. Wide shot, Natacha Flavine in the prison’s pantry
14. Med shot, bag od cassava flour
15. Various shots, inmates going out of the prison
16. Various shots, inmates carrying cassava to plant in the penal field
17. Wide shot, Ranoromanampisoa planting cassava
18. SOUNDBITE (French), Hanitrinisosy Ranoromanampisoa, team leader of the penitentiary unit of the MINUSCA in Berberati.
"The purpose of this field and the cassava plantation is to strengthen the diet of the detainees to ensure their food security."
19. Various shots, prisoners planting cassava
20. SOUNDBITE (French), Sergeant Chief William Guetel, Deputy Chief of Operations at Berberati Correctional Prison:
"We took this initiative with the support of MINUSCA. The detainees stay in prison without doing anything. After their release, they will start doing things again. So MINUSCA has asked the help of national NGOs to help them so that some of them acquire notions in agriculture. So, when they come out, they do not repeat their past mistakes."
21. Various shots, prisoners planting cassava
22. Wide shot, a prisoner fetching water in front of the prison vegetable garden
23. Wide shot, a prisoner watering plants
24. SOUNDBITE (French), Natacha Flavine, Intendant of the Berberati prison:
"This garden is used to feed the prisoners because these plants are part of their food ration.”
25. Various shots, prisoners in the vegetable garden
26. Medium shot, opening of the prison’s gate
27. Various shots, a priest celebrates mass in the prison
28. Wide shot, people in front of Berberati prison

Storyline

It is lunchtime for detainees at the Berberati correctional facility in the west of the Central African Republic. Under the supervision of corrections officers, inmates prepare their meal. Eighty-nine inmates will share these small balls of cassava and the vegetable soup that accompanies it - their only meal of the day.

"Since I took the service, I receive 200 000 francs per month for the prisoner's food", says Natacha Flavine, intendant of the Berberati prison.

This sum represents 70 FCFA per detainee or about 12 cents per person per day. It's woefully insufficient.

To help the detainees to feed themselves, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known under its French acronym MINUSCA, supports the prison authorities of Berberati in cultivating its own field of cassava.

"The goal of the penitentiary’s field and the cassava plantation is to strengthen the diet of the detainees to ensure their food security," says Hanitrinisosy Ranoromanampisoa, team leader of the penitentiary unit of the Minusca, in Berberati.

The cultivation of this field also allows prisoners to learn the basics of agriculture.

"We took this initiative with the support of Minusca. The detainees stay in prison without doing anything. After their release, they will start doing things again. So Minusca has asked the help of national NGOs to help them so that some of them acquire notions in agriculture. So, when they come out, they do not repeat their past mistakes, " says Sergeant Chief William Guetel, Deputy Chief of Operations at Berberati Correctional Prison

In addition to this penal field, the prisoners cultivate a small vegetable garden.

"This garden is used to feed the prisoners because these plants are part of their food ration," explains Natacha Flavine.

While waiting for their cassava to be harvested, the prisoners and their minders are forced to find creative ways to provide enough food. This morning a local priest is holding a Mass in prison. All the money collected during the Mass will go towards prisoners’ food fund.