NCJ Number
49185
Journal
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF CORRECTIONS Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (WINTER 1978) Pages: 51-54
Date Published
1978
Length
4 pages
Annotation
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN PRISON SYSTEM IN TROPICAL AFRICA IS REVIEWED, AND THE OPERATION OF THAT SYSTEM IS DESCRIBED.
Abstract
PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, CONFINEMENT WAS UNKNOWN IN TROPICAL AFRICA. MUTILATION OR ENSLAVEMENT WERE THE CUSTOMARY PUNISHMENTS FOR TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW. BETWEEN 1885 AND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, MOST OF TROPICAL AFRICA WAS DIVIDED AMONG THE EUROPEAN POWERS. BY WORLD WAR I, ONLY LIBERIA IN WEST AFRICA AND ETHIOPIA IN EAST AFRICA RETAINED THEIR INDEPENDENCE. WRITTEN LAW, POLICE, AND EUROPEAN CONCEPTS OF PUNISHMENT WERE INTRODUCED. HOWEVER, EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN EDUCATION AND IDEAS SO THOROUGHLY PENETRATED THE AREA THAT AFRICANS DEMANDED, AND THE EUROPEANS GRANTED, SELF-GOVERNMENT. WITH SELF-GOVERNMENT, AND EVENTUALLY INDEPENDENCE, EACH OF THE NEW NATIONS ACQUIRED CONTROL OF ITS OWN PRISON SYSTEM. THESE SYSTEMS FACE THE SAME PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY PRISONS IN THE WESTERN WORLD, BUT THE SITUATION IS FURTHER COMPLICATED BY CULTURAL CONFLICTS, EXTREME POVERTY, AND THE IMPOSITION OF CONCEPTS ALIEN TO MANY AFRICANS. IN COUNTRIES WHERE AFRICANS ARE IN CONTROL, SUCH AS KENYA AND THE IVORY COAST, THE PROBLEM OF CULTURAL CONFLICT AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT OF BLACK AND WHITE PRISONERS IS COMPLEX. IN COUNTRIES WHERE AFRICANS ARE POLITICALLY POWERLESS, AS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE PROBLEM IS 'HORRENDOUS.' IN SOUTH AFRICA, WHITES REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE ANY DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE EDUCATED, 'CHRISTIANIZED' PORTION OF THE BLACK POPULATION, WHO ELSEWHERE ON THE CONTINENT HAVE MEDIATED BETWEEN TWO CULTURES, AND THE 'PURELY' AFRICAN POPULATION. A BIBLIOGRAPHY IS INCLUDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--LKM)