Mothers in Cameroonian Prisons: Pregnancy, Childbearing and Caring for Young Children

Abstract

According to the Cameroonian Penal Code, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children may not be admitted to prison and, by implication, there are no facilities to cater for these vulnerable categories of prisoners. Yet pregnant women are arrested occasionally and they deliver children in prison and some women are sentenced as nursing mothers. There is an implicit belief and practice that women are the primary caretakers of children – hence their imprisonment impacts on children both inside and outside of prison. This article first discusses the discrepancies between policy and practice regarding female inmates and their children in the Cameroonian penitentiary system. It then goes on to show how pregnancies, deliveries and being a mother are dealt with by female prisoners, given the constraints under which they are living. The research is based on observations and interviews at six out of 73 prisons in Cameroon. The data for this article is based on qualitative analysis of the narratives of 13 female inmates, who have experienced motherhood in prison, interviews with five prison staff members and two NGO representatives working in close collaboration with these inmates. The study was approached with standpoint feminist theory as a point of departure.