SEXUALITY AND SPIRITUALITY IN A SOUTH AFRICAN FEMALE CORRECTIONAL CENTRE

Abstract

In the first part of this study, the faces of spiritual discourses in a South African female correctional centre are described as they are shaped by culture, race, religious background, and the need for physical contact. The source of this part of the study is the researcher’s own observations whilst working in the Pretoria Female Correctional Centre on behalf of the (South African) Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons. The second and main part of the study describes the interface between spirituality and sexuality in this correctional centre as discourses holding the correctees captive in frustration and misunderstanding. The sources of this part of the study are hand-written testimonies by the correctees themselves which they prepared willingly at the request of the researcher. In the final part of the study, alternative religious discourses on the incarcerated female body are proposed.