Abstract:
Abstract: Ending in the 1960s, the postcolonial reformatory laws established separate women's facilities with some
recognition of the gendered needs of women. After the 1960s, the custodial and reform models merged, combining
elements of their two styles with differing results throughout the British colonies. The legacy of these movements
continues to shape prisons for women. First, with the exception of a relatively few "corrections" experiments that housed
women and men together with common programming, most prisons in the 1960s were single sex. Second, Women’s
prisons were shaped by the ideologies of domesticity and ideals of motherhood, focused on restoring female and maternal
qualities. Women required saving twice, firstly from their criminality and then from their deviance from anticipated
female behaviour. For this reason, the policy of Africanisation in Kenya, the transformation of colonial service
introduced the idea of the Langata Women Prison. Therefore, this article seeks to assess the evolution and impact of the
Africanization process on Langata Women Prison between 1960 and 1965.
Keywords: Women, prisons, punishment, gender, Africanization, incarceration, correctional services
