Women in African prisons

Abstract

Prisons signify different things in different cultures in Africa and around the world. In a legal context, prison is synonymous with confinement and justice, but its socio-medical implications must also be recognized. This chapter is a critical examination of the impact of prison confinement on the mental health and social well-being of female prisoners in Africa. A postcolonial analytic approach is used to explore the historical, social, and particular ideology of the prison system and the institution's ability to serve justice and promote mental health at the same time as it utilize deprivation, constraint, and control as forms of punishment. Narratives and prison studies literature on incarcerated women's experiences in African prisons were examined to identify the origin and constructs of prisons in Africa. The intersections of gender, health, and socioeconomic realities of African female prisoners are explored via three themes: the construction of womanhood in African societies, factors that predispose women to crimes or criminal actions, and the negative social and mental effects of incarceration on female prisoners in African prisons. The chapter argues that the "correctional" functions of prisons aimed at "punishing offenders" make achieving mental health in prisons unattainable. Prisons are also inadequately equipped to facilitate access to resources that enable the smooth reintegration of female prisoners into societies. This chapter calls for a reevaluation of prison systems, and the state of African female prisoners, and encourages the reconceptualization of alternative approaches to addressing "criminality" in African societies.