Over the last 30 years, a substantial literature on the history of American and European prisons has developed. This collection is among the first in English to construct a history of prisons in Africa. Topics include precolonial punishments, living conditions in prisons and mining camps, ethnic mapping, contemporary refugee camps, and the political use of prison from the era of the slave trade to the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

IllustrationsIllustrationsIllustrationsFIGURES"1.1"Dori Administrative Post (Niger, 1908) 17"1.2."Central Prison in Brazzaville (1943) 19"1.3"Map for a New Prison in Magaria (Niger, 1929) 20"4.1"Number of Juvenile Detainees at Bambey (1916-1926) 87"7.1"Monthly Variation of Disciplinary Sanctions (1925-1932) 139"10.1"UMHK Mining Camp with Zone Boisée 203"10.2"UMHK Mining Camp with Block of Houses 204"10.3"Plan of Lodgings for Two Families 208PHOTOS"1.1"Courtyard and Cell Doors in the Prison at Daikana (Niger, 1992) 18"1.2"A Collective Cell in the Prison at Tillabéry (Niger, 1992) 21"1.3"Ceiling Opened by an Escaping Prisoner (Tillabéry, Niger, 1992) 31"1.4"Painting by Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, Colonie Belge (1971) 35"10.1"Building for Latrines in Mining Camp 209MAPS"2.1"Ancient Angola 56"6.1"Prisons and Military Camps in Conakry 123"6.2"Jails in Freetown 124"7.1"Prisons in Upper Volta 136"9.1"Gabon (1948) 170"9.2"Concessionary Companies in the French Congo 174"10.1"Katanga Region 195"11.1"Tuareg Living Space in the Sahara 222"12.1"Rwanda Provinces (1996) 240"12.2"Active Prisons in Rwanda (1996) 243TABLES"4.1"Schedule for Juvenile Inmates at Thiès 85"4.2"Annual Arrivals and Releases at Bambey (1921-1926) 88