Arua means ‘In Prison’: Resources in Colonial Punishment Practices

Abstract

Abstract
Prisons established in the colonial period in Uganda provided labour to the colonial administration. Whereas other forms of forced labour were phased out, prisoners continue to be used as a human resource on prison farms, in workshops and public work projects right up to the present day. The study of the colonial prison system shows how the formation of a legal and political apparatus was necessary to produce and maintain this prison labour. The apparatus included new laws that created new crimes. Courts and government administrative systems enforced these laws, sending more and more people to prison. An important part of the apparatus was a racist colonial ideology about the need to ‘uplift’ the colonized Africans and mould them into disciplined citizens who would work hard in a capitalist system. In this article, I draw on a larger study of the colonial experience of the Lugbara people of Arua District.