Prisons and Prison Labor in Colonial Nairobi

• In Event: 50460 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Economics of Empire

Abstract

In what follows, I ask: What role do prisons play in consolidating colonial power and reproducing racial hierarchies? I argue that the use of prison labor in colonial Nairobi served as a way for the government to isolate and surveil the African population for economic and political gains. Literature on the development of prisons in colonial sub-Saharan Africa emphasize two main points: first, that prisons and prison labor were essential for the growth of infrastructure in colonial states, and second, that the abolition of slavery, and demise of the transatlantic slavetrade, made prison labor even more important as a cost-cutting tool in the growing industries and economic development of colonial states. After the abolition of slavery, prisons themselves became indispensable sites of segregation and reminders of the citizens of the state and the subjects of colonial rule. Using data from the Kenyan National Archives, I evaluate the revenue derived from the use of prison industries to supply basic goods and services for the colonial government broadly in Nairobi in the early 1900s. Next, I evaluate the amount of money saved on labor costs through the use of prison labor to build the Embakasi Airport during the Mau Mau “Emergency,” which later would become Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Author

• Amanda Cristina Ball, Nationwide Children's Hospital