Inside Cameroon's New Bell prison: Inmates find freedom through music
New Bell prison in Douala, Cameroon, operates like a city within a city. Inmates have created their own systems for communication, law enforcement, and commerce. The most striking example of this self-organised culture is Jail Time Records, a music studio and label run entirely inside the prison walls.
The facility has its own 'taxis' — inmates who deliver messages on foot through crowded courtyards — and its own law enforcement, where stronger prisoners assist guards in maintaining order. A market of stalls sells fried cassava and beignet pastries. But the label Jail Time Records has turned talented inmates into minor celebrities.
Empereur, a feared gang leader both inside and outside the prison, has accumulated 24,000 YouTube views for a music video filmed entirely within New Bell. Songs produced by the label have attracted fans from South Africa, the United States, and Argentina. Earlier this year, Jail Time Records organised a large concert for prisoners in the courtyard.
'It's this instrument of resistance… where we can really share friendship, love and our voices can be heard,' said Steve Happi, a former inmate who co-founded the label. 'We don't think anymore about the four walls — we find the freedom.'
The recording studio is basic: a small, hot booth attached to a room with a single computer. Yet it has become a site of catharsis and creativity. A documentary titled 'Jail Time Records', co-directed by Happi and Italian artist Dione Roach, was filmed over six years inside New Bell. It recently won three awards at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, including best documentary feature.
In the film, an inmate named Stone raps: 'Heart of stone, it's war. My senses shatter like broken glass. I'm closed and tight like a cell door. No solid ground I slip like a fish.'
