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Yaoundé carcérale

Yaoundé carcérale

Géographie d'une ville et de sa prison


Sociétés, Espaces, Temps



Carceral Geography of Yaoundé
Geography of a city and its own prison

This book describes the everyday lives of inmates and guards at Yaoundé Central Prison. It seeks to overcome stereotypes of African prisons, often reduced to overcrowded and dilapidated places in "failed States" still largely unknown. It aims to put into perspective measures and debate on prisons, which lie at the interface between reform in the justice sector and reform in the security sector.

This essay provides an insight into the lives of the citizens of Yaoundé and the way they are dominated by the public authorities. It establishes a continuum between prison and working-class neighbourhoods and explains how poverty and political opposition are both handled in Cameroon.

It straddles urban, social and political geography approaches and focuses on a subject which is still rarely studied within the discipline. It is based on repeated interviews with inmates, their families, prison administrators, NGOs, and observations in the prison and in Yaoundé. It is aimed at social sciences students and anyone involved in custodial issues and human rights.