Pope Leo XIV has condemned the living conditions inside one of Equatorial Guinea’s most notorious prisons, using the closing day of his four-nation African tour to deliver a message of dignity and hope to hundreds of detainees held in the facility.
The pontiff visited the Bata prison in the Central African port city of Bata on Wednesday, April 22, telling around 600 inmates, including approximately 30 women, that they were not forgotten.
“The administration of justice aims to protect society,” the 70-year-old pontiff told the gathered detainees. “To be effective, however, it must always promote the dignity of every person.”
“You are not alone. Your families love you and are waiting for you. Many people outside these walls are praying for you,” Leo told inmates in Spanish. “If any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the Church will stand by your side.”
As the pope began to address the crowd gathered in the prison courtyard, a heavy rainstorm broke out, drenching the inmates who stood listening in their new uniforms. When Leo departed, prisoners who had been soaked by the downpour shouted “freedom.”
Equatorial Guinea’s prisons and justice system have been repeatedly criticised by the United Nations and condemned by human rights groups and the United States State Department. The State Department’s 2023 report on the country listed a range of abuses, including arbitrary arrests, political detentions, torture, life-threatening prison conditions and serious concerns about the independence of its judiciary.
Amnesty International has separately reported that inmates at the facility are routinely beaten as punishment, and that the fate of numerous detainees remains unknown to their families.
In the lead-up to the papal visit, nearly 100 people arrested during a 2022 crackdown on street violence were released, according to a local lawyer who requested anonymity. The lawyer described the releases as one positive outcome of the visit but noted that the government had taken no steps to free jailed activists and politicians.
Equatorial Guinea’s Justice Minister Reginaldo Biyogo Ndong, speaking to journalists at the prison, rejected the allegations of abuse and maintained that the country’s prison and justice systems comply with international human rights laws, describing its justice infrastructure as “enviable.”
On the eve of the visit, 70 human rights organisations published an open letter to Leo, calling on him to speak out about abuses in the country and about the controversial deportation deals between Equatorial Guinea and the Trump administration, under which the oil-rich state has agreed to accept migrants deported from the United States.
After leaving the prison, the Pope visited a memorial for the victims of a 2021 explosion at a military base in Bata that killed more than 100 people and wounded around 600 others. He then addressed tens of thousands of worshippers at the Bata stadium, calling for respect for the rights of every citizen, every family, and every social group.
The Equatorial Guinea leg concludes an apostolic journey that began on April 13 and covered Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea across eleven cities.
NewsGhana previously reported on Pope Leo’s inauguration of the León XIV Campus of the National University of Equatorial Guinea and his Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mongomo earlier in the visit.
