women convicts in women’s living quarters. Male
prisoners, too, can be a threat to women’s well-
being. Most African prisons house men, women,
and children, and may merely provide separate
sleeping facilities. During colonial times, sexual
assault and gang rape was particularly prevalent
because women were not given separate quarters
from men. In Senegal, African women were ex-
pected to cook for the entire prison population and
sleep in the kitchen or on the porch of the fort or
prison compound (Konate 2003). Colonial prisons
enforced racial segregation, and European prison-
ers were housed in the vicinity of the warden’s
office or compound (Goerg 2003).
Lesbian convicts are particularly vulnerable to
attack from heterosexual prisoners and being re-
ported to prison staff (Dirsuweit 1999, Mkhize
1992). Some prisoners also convey fear of guards
who are known lesbians and prey on female pris-
oners (Shawalu 1985).
In many countries, unsentenced detainees held
on remand for more than five years comprise over
70 percent of the prison population. What is often
deemed “death by natural causes” by prison offi-
cials is actually caused by the following factors:
lack of sanitation and clean drinking water, dietary
deficiency, lack of adequate health care, and over-
crowding (an especially dire situation in Rwanda
prisons after the recent genocide of Tutsis). Mor-
tality rates increase dramatically during the rainy
season. A recent Zimbabwean study illustrates
prison conditions that may be generalized for the
vast majority of women’s prisons in Africa. There is
no gender-specific consideration. Men’s prisons are
the standard and women are housed in sections of
men’s prisons or – more infrequently – in separate
facilities. Women are refused basic sanitary items
(Musengezi et al. 2003). South African female com-
mon law prisoners were particularly degraded by
being denied underwear and cotton from the prison
system in the 1970s (Kuzwayo 1985).
Generally, judges do not grant early release to
pregnant women, mothers with widow status, or
those who have young children. The lack of basic
health and dietary needs is particularly grave for
pregnant women. In most prisons in Africa, preg-
nant convicts get minimal or no pre- or perinatal
care; child mortality, as a result, is higher in prisons
than in civil society. Most prisoners are mothers,
and young children often stay with their mothers,
in part because the father has abandoned the wife
upon her incarceration or because the mother’s
family is ashamed of her convict status and refuses
to take the children. In some prisons, no extra
clothing is provided for children, and children suf-
sub-saharan africa 437fer from the same poor diet as their mothers; the
children are literally punished along with their
mothers (Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza 1999). “Women
with babies in prison seem to carry a double pun-
ishment of coping themselves and fending for their
children” (Musengezi et al. 2003). Measures of
rehabilitation are minimal and prison chores are
overwhelmingly of a domestic nature, reinforcing a
gendered division of labor. Many women are illit-
erate and have very minimal formal education.
Linguistic difficulties may adversely affect ethnic
minorities and immigrants, who do not understand
the lingua franca of the courts and the prison staff
(de Klerk et al. 2001). Amina Lawal did not under-
stand the charge against her, because the Sharì≠a
judge used Arabic, rather than her native Hausa,
when she was indicted for adultery.Political prisoners
From the onset of the colonial conquest, the
carceral compound was used for political control of
Africans. However, after decolonization, many
governments continued the practice of incarcerat-
ing political opponents (Bernault 2003). Women’s
political imprisonment is predicated on their par-
ticipation in liberation struggles during the colonial
and apartheid era. Women instigated revolts
against poll taxes (Nigeria) and fought with men
for national liberation (for example, Mau Mau
members in Kenya, pass laws resisters in South
Africa). Many women were subjected to sexual
assault, rape, and other forms of torture and mur-
der in detention camps and prisons cells (Harlow
1992, wa Wamwere 2002, Konzaye 1985, Tesfa-
giorgis 1992). Women political leaders also faced
house arrest and banishment, which turned the
banned person into a self-policing docile body
(Ramphele 1995). Winnie Mandela was so acutely
aware of her exceptional status in the apartheid
regime that she was always prepared to return to
prison and had a suitcase ready at all times
(Mandela 1985). Gambo Sawaba was similarly
prepared; she was incarcerated more than a dozen
times for her defiant stance against the Native
Authority in northern Nigeria before Nigeria’s
independence. Often her offenses stemmed from
public speaking and consorting with men in public,
offenses which also attracted prison terms during
the 1960s (Shawalu 1990).
Political detainees and prisoners differentiate
themselves from common or social detainees and
convicts. They describe serving their sentences with
pride and determination, and several prisoners
report that their family and community support
was essential to endure isolation and torture. They