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Reflective revisiting of Research Fieldwork: Prison Hierarchies and Negotiation of Detention in the Juvenile Section of the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso

Un retour réflexif sur un terrain d’enquête : Hiérarchies carcérales et négociation de la détention au quartier pour mineurs de la Maison d’arrêt et de correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso
Um regresso reflexivo ao terreno: hierarquias prisionais e negociação da detenção na secção juvenil da Casa de Detenção e Correção de Ouagadougou (MACO), no Burkina Faso
Hama Thieni
Translated by Michael Paul and Dorothée Boulanger
This article is a translation of:
Un retour réflexif sur un terrain d’enquête : Hiérarchies carcérales et négociation de la détention au quartier pour mineurs de la Maison d’arrêt et de correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso [fr]

Abstracts

This article offers reflective feedback on a piece of research carried out between December 2020 and May 2021 among minors imprisoned at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO). This fieldwork was used to collect data for my Master’s thesis. My dual role as a prison social worker and as a trainee sociologist led me to examine the difficulties of accessing prison space, and to reflect on the need for the researcher to appropriate prison’s norms and codes. Thus, this article explores the various processes used to gain authorisation for accessing and collecting material. It also examines the influence of the prison hierarchies on the organisation and the workings of the juvenile section. The results of this reflective feedback show that research on minors’ detention involves particularly long negotiation processes with the various actors. Negotiations for accessing the field and for establishing trust-based relationships with the staff and the minors are necessary. In addition, the results show that hierarchies in the juvenile section, mostly based on adopting slang expressions, assimilating codes of conduct, joining social groups, and the use of violence between peers, are essential levers for adapting to prison life.

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Data associated with this article
“Two interviews with juveniles at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso [Entretiens avec deux mineurs incarcérés à la Maison d’arrêt et de correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso].”
https://doi.org/​10.34847/​NKL.D17D1I63.
Full transcription in Mooré and French and English translation of the interviews carried out by the author at the MACO, in March 2021. Recapitulative table of the interviews carried out at the MACO, 2020-2021.
Transcripts and translation in English also available at the end of the article.

Introduction

1What is the best way to carry out research on minors incarcerated in Ouagadougou? The present article offers a reflective revisiting of my fieldwork, carried out between December 2020 and May 2021 at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO) (Detention and Correction Facility), the largest prison in the country, and also presents the results of my research on prison hierarchies and the way these hierarchies constitute levers of adaptation for the incarcerated minors.

2The penal career of the juveniles who are the focus of this paper leads them to Juvenile Detention Centres, a special sections of the detention and correction facilities. According to the annual statistical record of the ministry of justice published in 2020, Burkina Faso has 27 penal facilities, distributed throughout the country, each including a centre for juveniles. In the same year, there were a total of 328 incarcerated juveniles, four of them girls, or an increase in the number of prisoners of 51.2% compared to 2019. The girls and boys imprisoned in the detention and correctional facilities include those who are on remand, pending sentencing and / or convicted.

3If the administrative authorities provide no explanation for the increase in the incarceration of minors, one might hypothesize that the activities of self-defence groups called koglwéogo, “guardians of the bush” in Mooré (Da Cunha Dupuy et Quidelleur 2018; Da Cunha Dupuy 2019), might be a factor to take into account to explain this inflation during the period 2017 to 2021. The actors of the penal system highlight cases of extra-judicial detention involving these self-defence groups. These groups, whose activities are “strongly [associated] today with summary justice that is violent and not respectful of human rights” (Fourchard 2018, 185), stop and arrest people in the town of Ouagadougou and neighbouring districts. The alleged delinquents who are arrested are either released after questioning (formal and informal), or handed over to the police (police and gendarmes) for the judicial process to take its course. In the case of most of the minors incarcerated, it was done through the intermediary of the koglwéogo, who have a certain legitimacy in the eyes of part of public opinion in Burkina Faso.

4Revisiting and reflecting anew on research carried out in prison, and what is more, on incarcerated minors, is not easy. In addition to the difficulties of the fieldwork, there are issues related to my status as social worker and the deontological rules that govern my profession. I am in fact subject to the constraints of professional secrecy and confidentiality as a social worker who has served in a prison and occupied a position of responsibility in the Direction Générale (management) of the prison administration. Thus to expose the flaws or shortcomings of a system in which one is an actor can mean running the risk of stigmatisation and discrimination by some members of the management and other colleagues, even if one has a special authorisation for access and media cover for the research project.

5On the other hand, for a young sociologist like me, this reflective revisiting offers a way to refine my research practices and to re-examine the knowledge produced in the prison environment, a sensitive terrain that is difficult to access, and subject to constant negotiation. It involves examining not only the different social perceptions associated with prisons, but also the discourse emanating from the moral entrepreneurs of the prison environment. Deconstructing the ordinary categories of thinking that are associated with the prison universe should enable us to go beyond a prison-centered approach, or “carcelo-centrism,” which characterises many studies on prisons in Africa. Quite rightly, Chantraine (2018) emphasises the bias of “carcelo-centrism” where the discourses produced by the actors involved in prison issues constitute the only keys to understanding prison life. While following in the footsteps of this author, I seek here to show that going beyond “carcelo-centrism” can only really be operative on condition that the researcher adopts the values and norms of the prison environment of the investigation, while at the same time calling them into question. My investigation is also guided by a two-fold perspective of immersion and reflection, a source of tension, certainly, but also rich in meaning: the researcher “mired in a set of perceptions related to their status as intellectual, as a man or a woman, foreigner or local, which they are subject to and which they participate in involuntarily, mist adapt to them, put up with them, instrumentalise them or on the contrary, reject them in order to successfully carry out their work” (Samson and Manetta 2021, 9). It is in this context, stamped with discomfort and being torn between my profession as social worker and my status as apprentice sociologist that between 2020 and 2021 I undertook a research study at the MACO for my sociology Master thesis at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo university in Ouagadougou.

6How did my status as social worker constitute a lever for carrying out research in an environment that is by definition closed and where access is strictly controlled? How could my two-fold status also constitute an impediment because I was identified as belonging to the prison staff by some of the incarcerated juveniles? Did the young offenders see it as an opportunity and an advantage to be able to talk to a social worker, or on the contrary did other young offenders see certain disadvantages in it? These are questions we shall seek to answer in the course of this article.

  • 1 The interviewees (juveniles, instructors, warders and social workers) voluntarily took part in the (...)

7In academic literature, the questions that I raise have also been matters for reflection for several authors, but in other fields. Let us cite here the work of Diawara (1985) on the advantages and disadvantages of carrying out research on one’s own culture in the African context; that of Samson and Manetta (2021) on the social control experienced by the researcher relative to their their fieldwork and interviewees; the work of Oumarou (2018) on judicial bureaucracy, notably the constraints of an ethnographical study in the judicial sphere in Niger, show all the complexity of research when there is a proximity between the researcher, the fieldwork and the focus of the research. Nevertheless, sociological research in Africa has not sufficiently highlighted reflexivity questions around fields of investigation such as the juvenile detention centers in the prisons. In addition, the prison hierarchies that govern prison life for juveniles (13 to 18 years old) in African prisons are virtually absent from academic publications. My research has thus privileged a qualititative approach through individual interviews, which I provide two examples of in the form of transcripts. These sources have been completed by observations and focus groups. Specifically, I have focused on the experience of prison life of juveniles, with particular emphasis on the interviews of a biographical nature, with the aim of apprehending on one hand the realities of the social milieu of the interviewees, and on the other hand the influence of prison culture on the strategies and negotiations of the young prisoners. In the constitution of the sample of the juvenile detainees, the characteristics related to their age, their prison situation, their level of education, their sex, the offence committed, the family situation and the duration of the detention have enabled me to constitute a sample consisting of volunteers1.

8The article is organised around two main issues. In the first part, I shall reconsider the processes of negotiation that enabled me to establish relations of confidence and closeness with my interviewees. In the second part, I shall analyse more specifically the hierarchies that organise the juveniles centre and determine its mode of functioning. It is within this mode of functioning that the researcher / social worker must construct their place by finding the right distance.

Negotiating one’s proximity with one’s fieldwork: time and connections

  • 2 The choice of the MACO to carry out this research may be explained by the flux of the juvenile popu (...)
  • 3 According to Arrêté 2018-107/MJDHPC/CAB dealing with the legal framework for special authorisation (...)

9In 2017, I started work on a Master’s thesis in sociology at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University. The question of access to the site of my fieldwork was at the time raised in a paradoxical fashion. As a social worker assigned to the ministry of Justice, I was at that time working as head of the social service at the detention and correctional facility of Fada N’Gourma (a town situated 225 km from the capital, Ouagadougou). I thus knew the difficulties involved in the collection of information in prisons and the wariness of the prison staff (prison warders) regarding any investigation, whether by journalists or by scientific researchers. I therefore decided to apply for a posting to the Direction Générale de l’Administration Pénitentiaire (DGAP) (central prisons service) at Ouagadougou. The aim of this request for a posting was to be able to get closer to the site of my future fieldwork2. This proximity to the site of my fieldwork should also facilitate the acceptance of my application, at a time when I was about to apply for a special authorisation for access with media cover for the collection of data at the MACO.3

The procedure for obtaining a special authorisation for access with media cover

  • 4 The École Nationale du Service Social (ENSS) is a professional training school where social workers (...)

10In Burkina Faso, access to penitentiary facilities for researchers is, as we have seen, formally linked to the acquisition of a special authorisation for access with media cover. This authorisation officially constitutes a legal protection for the researcher, but it would appear to be rather an alibi for maintaining administrative control over any compromising information that might be made available to public opinion. The road towards obtaining this authorisation has many pitfalls for a junior researcher. When I started work at the DGAP, I found an older graduate from the École Nationale du Service Social who was in charge of the Social Action division,4 whose main mission is to supervise social services’ activities for all the penitentiary facilities in the country. He was a great help in enabling me to obtain the special authorisation for access.

  • 5 I studied law for two years at the Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences Juridiques et Pol (...)
  • 6 L’aîné de l’École nationale du service social, chef de la division Action sociale, assurait alors l (...)

11Following the validation of my data collection tools by my thesis supervisor, I found out about the administrative procedure and the conditions of access to a prison for the purposes of research from a magistrate who had studied law with me.5 I then collected all the necessary documents and sent in my application for the authorisation for access to the chancellery (ministry responsible for Justice). But before depositing my application at the ministry of Justice, I had an informal interview with the interim director of the Direction de la Santé et de l’Action Sociale (that I referred to earlier).6 He offered to intervene with the Directeur Général de l’Administration Pénitentiaire to facilitate the acquisition of my authorisation for access. This personal connection speeded up the process of obtaining my special authorisation for access with media cover for the collection of data. Obtaining this authorisation was for me a major step forward, but it was only the first stage in getting access to the field. I was not yet aware that the collection of data in a prison would call for frequent negotiations, both with the prison staff and with the incarcerated juveniles.

Location of the study site

  • 7 It is a one-storey detention facility whose construction was completed in 1964, according to the pr (...)

12The MACO is situated right in the centre of the town, near the main road, not far from Bangr-Weoogo park, a green leisure space much appreciated by the inhabitants of Ouagadougou. The facility houses adult prisoners (men and women) and juveniles. At the time of the survey, the MACO consisted of five buildings: the main block or “Le bateau,7 the annex block, the quartier d’amendement, the women’s block and the young offenders centre. These five buildings no doubt serve to separate the prison population on the basis of sex and age, but do not take into account the penal status, mixing together convicted, remand and indicted prisoners.

Image 1. The various buildings in the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO) (Ouagadougou Detention and Correction Center)

Image 1. The various buildings in the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO) (Ouagadougou Detention and Correction Center)

Legend:
1. Entrance to MACO
2. Grand Bateau (main building)
3. Quartier d’amendement
4. Women’s block
5. Annex block
6. Juvenile Detention Center
Coordinates: 12°23’15.9”N 1°29’08.3”W [geo:12.38775,-1.48565].
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/​Xq4PyHTKo23kaV587. On OpenStreetmap: https://www.openstreetmap.org/​#map=18/​12.387754/​-1.486319.

Google Maps. Images 02024 Airbus, Maxar Technologies, Cartographical data 2025.

  • 8 During my stay from December 2020 to April 2021 in the Juvenile Detention Center, I observed the co (...)

13The Juvenile Detention Center (13-18 years old) is in the outer area of the prison, isolated from the other detention blocks. Despite this spatial marginalisation within the facility, the juveniles centre is a strategic site that is the focus of particular attention from the prison administration, professional visitors to the prison and the media.8

From the first interviews to mixed results

  • 9 The Governor of the prison asked the head of the social service not only to allow me to meet the yo (...)

14On 30th December 2020, I finally went into the MACO to carry out my first interviews with the incarcerated juveniles. After the usual formalities, the prison’s social service was responsible for bringing the juvenile detainees to meet me in an interview room arranged for this purpose.9 The issues involved in my arrival at the site were apparent from the behaviour of the prison administration: the prison’s social service had been designated to act as my tutor. Paradoxically, my status resembled that of my juvenile interviewees who, as soon as they arrived in the prison, had to find a group to join and a “tutor” among their fellow detainees. My arrival in the field was rather uncommon for a researcher. This may be explained by the trust the director of the prison had for the head of the social service. Or perhaps as a social worker myself, he thought I would feel more at ease under the tutorship of this service than that of the prison warders.

15My first interview with a young offender seemed at the time rather inconclusive, owing to my interviewee’s obvious reticence to confide in me. It did nevertheless enable me to observe his verbal and non-verbal behaviours, as can be seen from the notes in my journal:

The juvenile offender is very calm; he avoids looking at me; he is not very talkative; he thinks carefully before answering, or otherwise says he doesn’t remember; he doesn’t seem to be committed to sharing his experience at the MACO; the only part the juvenile offender talks about is related to the violence between juveniles in the Center (fights, insults, aggression).
(Journal, March 2021.)

  • 10 The handbook on the lexicon of the concepts of social work (2008) in Burkina Faso as a first stage (...)
  • 11 At the very beginning ofthe interview with the juvenile offender, I began with questions on his ide (...)

16This silence is rather rare in the light of my experience as a social worker among incarcerated minors, and it upset me. I therefore questioned the MACO social workers who were responsible for the psychosocial care10 of the juvenile offenders in order to get a better idea of this boy’s situation in prison. They told me that the boy’s behaviour (calm, imperturbable character) was not unfamiliar to them, while stressing out to me that he was a multi-recidivist for theft by burglary. The juvenile offenders are usually more talkative with social workers, but in the present situation they were faced with a social worker who was in the role of researcher. The MACO administration, on the other hand, saw me rather as one of them and not as a researcher. During this first interview, I understood that the juvenile offender did not want to share his life history and his life in the Center with me as a researcher. In contrast, he was talkative with the social workers when they interviewed him to understand why he was uncommunicative with me. I understood that my approach, and my questions that were like a social worker’s questions although I was not perceived as such, but as a researcher,11 did not enable this boy to talk freely or trust me. It seemed as if the boy rather assimilated me to a police officer, in the light of my questions which at the outset of the interview concerned his identity and his family background. Apparently, my presenting myself as a researcher and my explanations of the aims of my research did not reassure him.

17This situation brought me face to face with the issue of my identity: my status as researcher would in this context of research obliterate my professional identity as a social worker. This showed me in no uncertain terms the complexity of carrying out research interviews with incarcerated juveniles. Despite my familiarity with prisons as a social worker, my first experience of interviews carried out at the MACO thus turned out to be difficult and mixed in terms of results, and I had to immerse myself in the prison in my new hat as researcher and develop new approaches to win the trust of my interviewees and get them to talk freely. The frequency of the visits to the Center during a stay of eighteen days from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M. made it easier for me to create a relation of trust with most of the children. To achieve this, I had to integrate the cultural codes of social relations of the juveniles. Two levers of immersion enabled me to gain access to the world of the incarcerated juveniles: socialisation via the game of table football and familiarisation with the slang expressions I learned during the interviews.

Socialisation via table football: winning the game against the researcher

18At the beginning of my immersion in the juvenile detention centre, I spent five days (from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M.) without really being able to make any contact with the detainees. I was so concentrated on observation of the practices of the young offenders that some of them were wary of me. The extracts from my journal reveal my anxiety, the negotiations and readjustments operated to win the trust of both of the instructors of the Center and the incarcerated juveniles.

It is now five days that I have been coming to the Center to spend the whole day without managing to talk to the juvenile offenders. The juveniles who are in the yard are not interested in me, no doubt [because] they see that I talk more to the instructors (carpentry and sewing). But I also have to be close to the instructors, since it is they, through the intermediary of the person named as the juvenile master (maître mineur), who take the children out of detention to go to the workshops and the kitchen. The juveniles are wary of me, they spend their time playing table football without taking any notice of my presence. Soon I shall come and spend the whole day playing table football with the juveniles; perhaps I shall be able to make friends so I can get on better with my survey.
(Journal, March 2021)

Table football session with two incarcerated juveniles, MACO

Table football session with two incarcerated juveniles, MACO

Photo by the author, March 2021.

  • 12 I went to the Juvenile Detention Center for five days without my equipment (pen, notebook and bag). (...)
  • 13 What it entails to be “juvenile master” will be explained in a later section of the article.

19After the first five days of visiting the Center, given that I had not managed to establish a relation of trust with the juvenile offenders, I decided to no longer come in with my researcher’s equipment (pen, fieldwork notebook, bag).12 Furthermore, I began to play table football with the juveniles and the staff of the Center every morning. I then had the impression that the juveniles now saw me as someone with the same interests as them. This change of posture profoundly altered the rest of my stay (13 remaining days) and facilitated the collection of data. In the end, it was less my professional skills (as social worker or researcher) than my relative mastery of table football that constituted a lever for my survey. In fact, when I was at school, I was in charge of my uncle’s table football room during the holidays. Many “street kids” came to spend the day in this room. In the juvenile detention Center, I could see how keen they were to play table football against me and challenge me. My victory at table football against the juvenile master brought him closer to me.13 Through the game, I was able to renegotiate my insertion in the Center. My prowess led many juveniles to open up to me and to take an interest in my research work. They gave me a lot of information about life in prison during the table football sessions, but also during discussions in the dining area or in the sewing and carpentry workshops. The juveniles who were cooks told me about the tricks those in the workshops got up to, and those in the workshops told me about the tricks of the cooks. This situation enabled me to proceed to a simple triangulation (Olivier de Sardan, 2008) of much information that I had received previously during my interviews with certain juvenile offenders.

20The table football player thus gained the trust and the confidences of the juveniles that the researcher with a two-fold role as sociologist / social worker had not been able to achieve. This turnaround showed that despite all the prior precautions the researcher takes, notably with regards to the choice of a theoretical framework, the methodological choices and the fieldwork policy, certain factors that have nothing to do with research may prove decisive for the successful completion of an investigation.

The prison sub-culture: slang expressions as a tool to mark one’s differences with “the others”

21Assimilating the norms and values of each milieu where an individual is operating is essential and offers certain advantages. This is why, in the juvenile detention centre, the prison sub-culture influences the conditions of detention. Thus, the slang expressions in use in the Center oppose two categories of detainees, and my first contacts with them showed that some wished to make distinctions among themselves, but above all with other offenders referred to as “bakoroman.” Studies by Médori Touré (2020) and Champy (2022) re-examine the phenomenon of street children [bakoroman], and the mobility of young people on the basis of the histories and life trajectories of these children. The study by Champy (2022) undertakes a reflective re-examination of biographical stories obtained among street children in Ouagadougou. For this author, even if there is no consensus concerning the expression bakoroman, it might be claimed that to some degree it is an expression derived from the Diola language and used by juveniles to designate those among them who have lived in the street. According to her, “[…] one is considered bakoroman if he or she lives among bakoroman; it is indeed in their company that he/she discovered the meaning [of the word], part of street slang, the use of which makes it possible to distinguish the bakoroman from simple passing vagabonds” (ibid., 60). The presence of young people in the streets of the big cities of Burkina Faso is not a new phenomenon. Already, the work of Hochet (1967) on the lack of social adaptation and juvenile delinquency in Upper Volta (ex-Burkina Faso) mentioned the presence of these young people in the country’s prisons. Since the 1960s, the use of slang expressions has contributed to structuring the delinquent activities among these young dropouts. The question of the existence of a dropout sub-culture among the bakoroman is also explored by Champy (2022). It may be understood that admission to the bakoro [the street] is manifested by practices that are socially perceived as “deviant,” such as the consumption of psychotropic products, glue, cannabis, heroin powder, medical drugs, etc. These practices of consumption are a marker of a social identity and of belonging to a world where violence, theft and survival strategies are part of the daily life of the bakoroman. Belonging to this world implies accepting the norms, the values and the lifestyle of the bakoro sub-culture.

22The slang expressions in use in the Center, borrowed from several languages (in particular Mooré, French and Dioula), forge the language of the juvenile detention centre and are one of the tools of this distinction. They contribute to shaping a “prison sub-culture” that is unequally shared and that the researcher must become familiar with. In the scientific literature, there are two main models to explain the prison sub-culture. Irwin and Cressey (1962) defended the point of view according to which the endogenous origins of this form of sub-culture have been greatly overvalued. According to them, it is outside the prison that the explanation of the values and the behaviours observed in prison is to be found. According to these authors, there is a criminal sub-culture, of which the prison sub-culture is just one element or episode. The prison sub-culture thus only maintains a criminal sub-culture that originates elsewhere than in prison. In contrast, Sykes (1958), the first to develop a model explaining the prison sub-culture, explains the formation of this sub-culture by the deprivations endured by the prisoners during their incarceration. He calls this the “deprivation model.” Given the impossibility of escaping the deprivations inherent in imprisonment, the prisoners seek above all the healthiest way, or the least harmful way, to mitigate the impact on the day-to-day life. A model of social relations thus emerges between prisoners based on solidarity and cohesion. If the code of values of the detainees places such a strong emphasis on solidarity and cohesion, it is because the prisoners have no better choice than to be united in the face of adversity.

  • 14 Muriel Champy (2014, 130) noted the insulting terms with which the inhabitants of Ouagadougou descr (...)
  • 15 I shall describe these positions and these hierarchies later on in the text.

23In the course of my research at the MACO, I observed that these two models, that referred to as the deprivation model and the importation model, overlap. I could observe the recourse to strategies of adaptation and adoption and readaptation of behaviours and conduct among certain juvenile offenders, in particular the recidivists. Most of the recidivist juveniles had lived in the bakoro; they are ingenious and regularly deploy strategies to adapt to detention. Furthermore, Champy (2022) emphasises that the socialising areas in the centres where the bakoroman reside constitute places where they also meet the other children in the Center. These socialising areas are real sanctuaries for initiation in delinquent practices. Despite the hostility of their environment, the bakoroman always manage to gain admission to and take over sectors of the urban tissue; since as much as they need the actors of the street economy, the world of the informal economy cannot do without these “little bandits.”14 In the young offenders centre, the recourse to strategies of adaptation and adoption and readaptation have been observed among two categories of offenders. Firstly, the recidivist juveniles made it clear to me that certain practices relative to the planning of cells cleaning had changed considerably. During their previous imprisonment, this organisational task had been rather the responsibility of the cell leader, whereas now it was attributed to the juvenile master.15 This change in the attribution of responsibility had considerably limited their capacity for negotiation to get out of doing the cleaning chores. Then, I could observe that the bakoroman juveniles hid their past living on the street and tried to imitate the slang used by the other children. The slang used in the Center at the time of the survey is a mix of the Mooré language, Dioula and a predominance of expressions in French. Talking to the juvenile offenders, it appeared that using this slang, where French expressions are numerous, confers value in the eyes of the other juveniles in the Center, in contrast to the slang of the bakoroman. We are indeed seeing here dynamic social exchanges in this milieu. This is why ethnographical research on African prisons has emphasised the approach referred to as “the economy of values in prison” (Le Marcis et al, 2019; 2022). This new approach on social exchanges in prison promotes going beyond the total institution and the theory of the importation from “outside” of values, norms and practices within prisons. For these authors the economy of values in African prisons is more contextual, that is the social exchanges in prison are “situated,” they are based on dynamics. Furthermore, the present work aims to position itself in the continuity of the approach referred to as the “economy of values in prison.” In this regard, Le Marcis et al. (2019) claim that:

In the world of the prison, the economy of values thus refers here to the full range of meanings and uses of the practical rationalities associated with the spaces, the notions and the objects that are in circulation within and through the prison. These values-goods are mobilised during interactions and determined by the context. They are never given as such, but established termporarily in the framework of interactions embedded in the relations of power.
(Le Marcis et al. 2019, 61.)

24It can be seen that this approach to social exchanges in prison involves going beyond the total institution of Goffman (1968). To a certain extent, even the researcher in the prison environment cannot escape from the reality of these social exchanges. Furthermore, to better integrate my research field, it was necessary to show a certain docility and a real desire to learn the slang expressions. Certain juveniles with whom I developed strong relations of trust thus initiated me in the language of the prison.

The process of learning the slang for the researcher

  • 16 Among the juveniles interviewed there were eight bakoroman who did not display their status, given (...)

25The importance of mastering certain slang expressions in closed environments such as prisons is a known factor. What I did not know is the fact that these expressions are not used to express the same realities in detention. The place where the prison is situated, the social origins of the juvenile offenders, their geographical provenance, their socio-penal history and their secondary socialisation contribute to making the slang expressions specific to the place of detention and the context in which they are used. Despite these variations in the slang, the researcher who possesses some language elements from this prison sub-culture can better succeed in gaining acceptance among the incarcerated juveniles. My use of certain slang expressions thus led some young detainees to want to initiate me in the different registers of slang used in detention and enabled me to differentiate it from that spoken by the bakoroman. This differentiation by language is evidence of the desire of the incarcerated youngsters not to be assimilated with the children living in the street.16 They consider the bakoroman dirty, violent, uneducated, compared to most of them who had been to school and could speak French more or less well. These dynamics of distinction within the prison show that the young offenders were seeking to put paid to a certain number of stereotypes, generally perceived as being derived from the poorest and socially invisible social classes. Whence the fact that these juveniles are not thought to have come from a “good family.”

26My immersion at MACO is evidence of the “necessary slowness” (Diawara 1990, 163) for research and of the various processes of negotiation to deploy from the milieu of the prison administration to that of the juvenile detainees. The readjustment (via table football) and the adoption (of slang expressions) enabled me to apprehend the registers of the justifications of my interviewees and the influence of the prison culture in the construction of the hierarchies among the detainees. In the same way that I had had to master the administrative procedures, prioritise my flexibility in negotiation and my ability to adopt the codes and values of the juveniles to gain admission to the terrain, the young detainees have to adapt and adopt the prison culture to negotiate their place in the prison.

The slang expressions and the negotiation of detention in the Juvenile Detention Center

  • 17 As for all the verbatim transcriptions, the identities of the interviewees are not mentioned in ord (...)

27The use of slang is a constant in the MACO juvenile detention centre. It provides a medium for communicating information, from the most insignificant to the most important for life in prison. Slang also offers the means to recount one’s past as a delinquent. The slang expressions are not understood or used by all the population of young detainees. They are thus often a source of fights and misunderstandings between prisoners, as one juvenile offender told me.17

  • 18 Refers to a newly arrived juvenile. The term can also designate a juvenile offender who is naive an (...)
  • 19 Refers to a senior detainee. The expression can also designate a prisoner who is well integrated in (...)
  • 20 Refers to a senior or a patron or a prior delinquent.
  • 21 This is a codification of the interviews carried out for this study. See, at the end of the article (...)

If you come in there and you’re new, they call you [wongo18]. […] even me, when I first came in they [juveniles] called me that. I didn’t really understand. It was later that I understood. In fact it’s just to say that you’re a stranger [new]. But I wanted to have a fight. But when I understood […] when you’re a newcomer they call you in the Center [wongo]. So the old timers [juveniles] they’re called [guelwongo19]. Well it’s difficult to understand some words [expressions] here unless you’ve got a koro20 [elder] or a young one [delinquent peer] who’s already been here and then they explain the things here to you. You nkow even the bakoroman [street kids] can’t understand some expressions used here. In fact they [bakoroman] have their away of talking too [slang]. The way of talking here [young offenders centre] is different too.
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM1021]. Age: 17. Length of detention: 8 months. Full interview reprinted at the end of the article.)

28Most of the juveniles insisted on the specific character of the slang expressions used in the Center. They also stressed the impossibility of learning this language outside the MACO. This situation is well known from certain authors who have worked on prisons. The work of Sykes (1958) highlights language in the life of the incarcerated. The author focuses on the construction of a language specific to the prison milieu which he establishes as constitutive of a “carceral counter-culture.” This is precisely what this juvenile is testifying to:

For here [slang] when you’ve never been in prison […] you can’t understand certain expressions. Unless someone who’s already been in here explains to you how things are here. If you come in here how they’re going to talk to you and how they’ll behave to you. Without that, you can’t understand the expressions [the slang] from here.
(Ibid.)

29Mastery of the slang expressions generates sympathy for the one who has it. In this respect, another juvenile, a specialist in these slang expressions, confided in me how he benefitted from the sympathy and the friendship that this knowledge conferred on him to help him better negotiate his detention:

Yes that can help you. For me especially with the language [slang] I managed to make a lot of friends. I built up a lot of relationships with the kids. Two to four days we’re together […] there’s already the trust. But if you don’t understand, it’s difficult. […] Other [juveniles] don’t understand, it’s true, but when you can speak it [slang] it makes them want to. People [young offenders] gather around you, they like it. […] if you have a lot of friends [in the Center] that’s good for you compared to those who haven’t.
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM7]. Age: 17. Length of detention: 12 months. Full interview reprinted at the end of the article.)

30This prison slang enables the juvenile offenders to describe and to own the events (socio-cultural activities, sport, festive events, activities to do with hygiene and preparing meals) that mark their own universe. Solini (2012) emphasises that importation theories consider that the social relations in detention are mainly determined by the sub-cultures imported into the prison by the detainees. Nevertheless, the perspective of the importation theories which maintain that the prison slang is imported from outside (Irwin and Cressey 1962) might be attenuated in the case of the juveniles incarcerated at the MACO. The institutional jargon of the juveniles centre is specific to a certain degree to the interior of the outside walls of the prison, even if certain expressions may be found outside the prison. Like other recidivist young offenders, the bakoroman supposed to import their jargon to the juveniles centre try rather to hide their street life, making their jargon specific to the bakoro inaccessible and invisible. In consequence, the recidivist juveniles and the bakoroman fall within in a logic of adaptation and learning slang expressions that do not always reflect the realities of their life on the streets. The remarks of one juvenile testify to this:

They are inverted words [from several languages]. [Yes] that exists here [in the Center]. I talk to certain young prisoners. Well that language I talk with some who understand me, others don’t understand it. Yes you can understand that [the slang] in the street. But you can go to school, learn French, but not understand that language (slang). If you spend a bit of time with the street kids [street children who are not bakoroman], you’ll understand clearly. Right now we talk that […], it’s French, but French mixed with other languages, [expressions] in Mooré [and] Dioula are in there. Like that […], when they [juveniles] speak, you may be right there [but] maybe it’s you they’re talking about, but you don’t understand. You too can get the words [without knowing that they’re insulting you].
(Ibid.).

31One might then claim, on the basis of these words, that a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO does not always come in with snippets of experiences and habits interiorised prior to their incarceration. Even if that can shed doubt on the sincerity of their words, most of the juveniles claim that when they get out, they will give up the jargon learned in prison. Perhaps the sign of their wish to efface their experience of prison. But can one change old habits?

Approaching the hierarchies of the prison: the juvenile master, the cell leader, the Koro

32From my first interviews with young offenders at the MACO, certain expressions such as “juvenile master” (“maître mineur”), “cell leader” (“chef de cellule”), “turnkey” (“Porte-clefs”), “storekeeper” (“boutique), “workshop apprentices” (“mineurs placés à l’atelier”), “cook juveniles” (“mineurs cuisiniers”) cropped up repeatedly in their discourse. Certain interviewees complained about the behaviour of these detainees; other expressed certain proximity with them. These different types of status and hierarchies were known from adult detainees (Morelle 2013; Korbéogo 2014), but less so for young offenders. I wondered how these hierarchies were involved in the management of their daily lives. During my brief immersion, I soon understood that certain personages such as the juvenile master were unavoidable. Furthermore, my victory over him at table football was a decisive turning point. My new relationship with the juvenile-in-chief opened doors for the rest of my survey, in particular my presence in the kitchen, where the “juvenile cooks” prepared the meals. My presence among the juveniles during the preparation of the prison meals was possible because the juvenile master had agreed to it. Without his authorisation, I would not have been able to observe the organisation, the functioning and the cooking of the food in the juveniles’ kitchens. This acceptance partly resulted from my victory over him at table football but also from the keen interest in my research of certain juvenile workshop apprentices.

Following the code of conduct off the Center under the leadership of the juvenile master

33The juvenile master is an uncommon figure in the Center. He is an adult prisoner from the adult quarters designated by the administration to support the representatives of the institution in the management of the juveniles. My discussions with the various actors did not enable me to determine the mechanisms and procedures involved in his designation. Furthermore, the juvenile master lives with the juveniles in their Center. One manager from the prison administration said that:

At their level [Center], there is a young adult prisoner who is there, he’s the juvenile master. It is via the juvenile master that we impose actions (monitoring the discipline and order). That’s it […]: it’s an adult prisoner who lives with the young offenders. […] At a given moment, when a juvenile master is released, we look for [pick] someone else as juvenile master.
(Interview with a manager from the prison administration, MACO, 11 March 2021 [PRES5].)

34On analysis, we see that the prison constitutes a world where practices specific to this milieu develop. Thus new functions are created among the detainees to facilitate the management of the prisoners. We see the creation and the attribution of a new type of power to the prisoners, in order to supervise them. Furthermore, the prison practices such as cleaning tasks are seen by certain new detainees as an imposition by the institution. In reality, this organisation of day-to-day life in detention is the responsibility of the juvenile master. Refusing to carry out cleaning chores would mean standing up against the authority of the master and of certain long-established juveniles in charge of planning the cleaning operations. The new arrivals thus have less to submit to the institution via the supervisor than to a group of more senior juveniles who impose these informal rules of life in detention. One juvenile thus claims:

If you want you and the juveniles there to get along, you have to be humble. You mustn’t behave as if you’re better than them. If they tell you to do something, you have to do it. If the supervisor sends you off, you have to do it. If they say that today it’s you who’s cleaning the house, you have to do it. If it’s you that’s sweeping [the courtyard] you do it and then there won’t be any problem. But if they tell you to sweep and you refuse, then that’s what’ll very often cause fights.
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM10]. Age 17. Detention time: 8 months.)

35In any case, it is clear that the administration is not always aware of the manoeuvres of control deployed by the older detainees over the others. Furthermore, only the master can report to the administration. But if he doesn’t, it’s sometimes because he needs the support of the senior juveniles to provide legitimacy for his power within the Center. This desire of the senior juveniles to control the way prison life is organised and make it fit their own interests recalls the work on the primary adaptations of Goffman (1968). For this author, the primary adaptations contribute to the virtually complete collaboration of the individual in the demands of the institution. The secondary adaptations, on the other hand, represent “the means to break free of the role and the character that the institution quite naturally assigns to him” (1968, 245). The cleaning of the cells that certain juveniles refuse to do, even if it means causing violent disputes, constitutes a form of secondary adaptation (badly) perceived by the new arrivals who have not yet integrated the internal codes and hierarchies. With regard to cleaning, a juvenile recounts:

In fact the cell is cleaned in turns. There’s a schedule: for instance, on Monday we know who’s going to clean the cell and also those who are going to clean the yard. When you’re new, sometimes they even say [juveniles] that they’re going to bugger you [if you refuse to do the cleaning]. But all that, it’s just to scare you, it’s just words [to frighten you]. But if you haven’t understood, you may start fights for nothing. But it’s just to scare you so that even if you get out of here [after release] you think about it and you know that life in here [in prison] isn’t easy.
(Ibid.)

36Listening to the experiences of one’s fellow-prisoners, in particular those passed on by the seniors to the new arrivals, paying some heed to the advice and warnings, trying to get around the norms imposed by the administration, testing the limits of the prison confines, these practices all have an important place in the daily life of incarcerated young offenders. The adaptation begins by the adoption of the informal norms and the values prevalent in the Center. That is why the new arrival has to be “docile.” He must not question the organisation of the Center, at the risk of getting into trouble. One juvenile highlights the three fundamental rules that must be respected by every new arrival to avoid trouble.

“You have to keep away from the senior detainees. […] You mustn’t intervene in their conversation. […] You mustn’t if someone comes to talk to you about something tell the others (divulge) saying such-and-such said that, for instance.”
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM1]. Age: 16. Detention time: 6 months.)

Power relations in the juveniles centre: the koro, the yard leader, the cell leader and the other juveniles

  • 22 The designation of the cell leader is made through a vote by the juveniles.

37In the course of my stay, I was able to observe how the relationships of power were developed between the senior young detainees referred to as koro or “elders,” the cell leaders22 and the younger prisoners. The cell leader is responsible for supporting the juvenile master in the management of life at the Center. Life in the Center is organised around relations of power that are both formal, but also and above all informal. The frontiers between the two categories of power can prove to be particularly flimsy and permeable in an enclosed milieu. It is to this informality that these comments by a juvenile refer:

In fact there were some koro [elders], they are guys that are too violent to people [juveniles]. I saw them when I arrived. There are times when these guys could take clothes off and tell you to do everything you can to get these clothes washed before this evening. Otherwise you’ll have them to reckon with. But they left [they were released] they got out on parole. It was them [like] the yard leader [who was in their group]. If you don’t wash those clothes there, they give you a beating [at night in the dormitories].
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM 10].)

38Other young offenders referred to more formal power relations based on the organisation of the prisoners in the Center. In any case, those who occupy positions in the hierarchy often got them because of their proximity to the representatives of the institution. The cell leaders, the juvenile cooks, the turnkeys and the juvenile workshop apprentices use their positions to seize opportunities through their subordinate fellow-detainees. It is a way to improve their conditions of detention in the Center. Nevertheless, to achieve positions of power in the Juvenile Detention Center is not necessarily correlated with age (being a koro) or the seniority of presence in detention. This means that the social capital intra muros (including via the warders, the juvenile master, the social workers, the fellow detainees and the visiting workers from outside) contribute to raising certain detainees to positions that are the envy of their fellow detainees, in particular in the kitchens and in the training workshops. The coveted positions that are the kitchens and the training workshops offer opportunities and resources in provisions and non-provisions (cereals, condiments, money and clothes). These practices related to the hierarchies and traffic around the Center in the Juvenile Detention Center recall the work of Morelle (2013) at the central prison in Yaoundé. The author reveals a system of gift-for-gift, which enables the detainees to have access to opportunities during their incarceration. It is then a constant that the informal logic of regulation and pacification of the prison space cohabits with more formal practices. If the relations of power are elements that structure the day-to-day functioning of the juveniles, the nature of these relations is specific to the carceral sphere. Korbeogo (2014, 198) notes that “prison is a privileged place to observe the processes of normalisation of social practices as relations of meaning and power that interconnect the different categories of actors” My observation is that there is a distribution and a hierarchisation of the roles by the administration of the MACO with the aim of responsibilising the juveniles and maintaining order in the juvenile detention centre. We can see that in the juvenile detention centre the detainees who possess little in terms of social capital intra- and extra-muros are more or less exploited by those who possess more. This situation characterises the relations of power. It is this that is referred to in these comments by a juvenile:

We have just one chief, he’s the cell leader. Apart from him, there is the turnkey, there is the store keeper and there are those who are in the workshops (carpentry, sewing). Except the turnkey who is bad. If you want to get out to pay for something, he’ll tell you to send the money, that he’ll pay the thing to the store keeper for you. If you give him the money, he’ll pay for the thing for you, but he won’t give you back the change. He’ll tell you for example that the store keeper said there wasn’t any change. But it’s him who pocketed the money. If you go out to ask the store keeper for your money, then it’s a whole palaver. (Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM1]. Age: 16. Length of detention: 6 months.)

  • 23 The Juvenile Detention Center is situated on the eastern side within the MACO, circulation is done (...)

39The turnkey is a juvenile who is in charge of opening the door of the detention centre if the warders want to bring a juvenile out of detention. The turnkey is often in cahoots with the storekeeper in confiscating sums of money from certain juveniles. It should be noted that the juvenile detention centre has a small shop with a few articles such as sugar, sweets, powdered milk, sardines, etc. This shop is managed by a juvenile, who is designated by the chief warder of the Juvenile Detention Center. The funds derived from the sale of these articles are handed over to the bursar of the establishment, who is the treasurer of a board of management set up within the prison. Some juveniles explained to me that relations of power can sometimes develop from the adult prison through a “patron” of the juvenile, generally an adult detainee with whom the juvenile has committed offences outside, not to be confused with the tutor, who is responsible for the group the juvenile belongs to. This situation not only enables the juvenile to inspire fear among his fellow detainees, but also to better manoeuvre in detention. However, my investigation did not enable me to establish a link between the juvenile detention centre and the adult prison. Because of the isolated character23 of the juvenile detention centre, encounters between the juveniles and the adult prisoners are rare and only occur on the occasion of meetings with the social services or medical consultations at the prison infirmary. Nevertheless, young offenders can obtain protection, notably by being placed in protection groups (I shall come back to this) via the intervention of an adult, prisoner or ex-prisoner. When it’s a matter of relations between certain juveniles and their koro, my first juvenile confided in me what follows:

It is one of my koro who was here in the Center [he was in the Juvenile Detention Center, after his release he came back as an adult and was in the annex building]. It is this koro who told him (current group leader) to include me in his group. My koro was here in the young offenders centre, but now he’s in the annex building. My koro […] gave a message to my current group leader […] He told him to include me in his group […].
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, December 2020 [MIM14]. Age: 14. Length of detention: 4 months.)

40My immersion in the Center also enabled me to talk more to my first interviewee, who I had found particularly uncommunicative. I found him again in the carpentry workshop at the Center. He told me he was a member of a group of thieves and he was the youngest in the group. All his gang had been arrested by the police and he was the only one to be staying in the juvenile detention centre. I understood that his elder outside, who had previously stayed in the Center as a juvenile, had asked another juvenile who had some influence in the Center to include his younger friend in his group. The elder outside who came back into the prison as an adult had thus found a group for his younger friend. We can see that the koro had managed to maintain his influence after he left the Center. The establishment of relations of power between the juveniles can occur both inside and outside the prison and is evidence of the permeability of the prison walls.

Forms of solidarity: the constitution of afiliation groups

41In the juvenile detention centre, afiliation groups constitute real sanctuaries for material and non-material resources for the incarcerated juveniles. A juvenile who does not join a group may suffer more difficult conditions of detention. One juvenile explained to me how these groups are organised at the Center:

Yes we are organised in a group. There are juveniles who don’t go out to the visiting room. They have never had any visitors here. But if we have visitors we bring them along and we give them a bit [of food] too. Yes there are advantages [in belonging to a group] when for instance someone wants to hit you, the members of your group come and help you and make your adversary understand that here, it’s no good starting a fight, because you’re one of their group.
(Interview sith a juvenile incacerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM9]. Age: 16. Length of detention: 11 months.)

42To join an afiliation group, you have to show the other juveniles that you have resources (economic and financial) and a social network which may perhaps come and visit you and bring food for the other members of the group. A juvenile explains:

For the groups, you see, [when] you come the first time they ask you if you’ll have visitors. They ask you if at the police station your parents came. Or have you got your parents’ numbers? If you show that you’ve got the contacts for your parents, they let you join the group. For them (juveniles) you see, they say that as you’ve got your parents’ contacts, if you call them they’ll bring you food. […]
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, March 2021 [MIM6]. Age: 15. Length of detention: 14 months.)

43This testimony echoes the observations of Goffman (1968) who stressed that when the new detainees are likely to play a role in the system of adaptation, the senior detainees wish them “welcome” and support them on arrival with a series of favours or manœuvres of seduction which replace the usual excessive deprivations. Yet one might possess material resources and still have difficulty joining a protective buddy group. One juvenile told us about his hassles during the process of joining a group:

Me for instance, when I arrived, I changed groups three times. When I’m brought my food supplies we eat together (the juveniles cook their own meals together in the evening), but for all of them (the other members of the group) they hide their food. I decided I’d better change group and they (the members of the group) were insulting me. […]. I didn’t answer. I just looked at them. I went off with other people (group). I thought they’d also behave properly with me. But in just two days, they too began to hide their food supplies. […]. All the things (condiments) it was me who paid for them. It was at the third try that I found the right people (the right group), with them it’s OK. I haven’t got any problems at the moment. (Interview sith a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, January 2021 [MIM5]. Age: 17. Length of detention: 8 months.)

44According to Goffman (1968) in certain institutions, the administration worries that the solidarity that reigns among certain categories of detainees may constitute the basis for concerted activity banned by the regulations and try deliberately to block the formation of groups. In contrast, the prison administration at the MACO does not appear to oppose the formation of groups among detainees. The security guards at the Juvenile Detention Center even encourage the juveniles to form groups to help them cope with the difficult conditions of detention. Furthermore, the acts of solidarity that emanate from the groups constitute for the juveniles not only a rampart against acts of violence by their fellow detainees, but also an opportunity to cope with the difficulties of prison life.

Scenes of violence between juveniles: forms of legitimatisation of power in the prison hierarchies

45Between the beginning and the end of the investigation (December 2020-May 2021), the number of juveniles varied between about forty and fifty. All the juveniles in the Center lived in collective dormitories. Some slept on newly acquired beds and others on mats. Visits to the dormitories during the survey revealed unsatisfactory conditions of detention, all the more so as nauseating smells emanated from them sometimes, despite the renovation of the Center building by an NGO working in the field of child protection from January to April 2021. Furthermore, it should be stressed that the ordinary routine of violence constituted a major difficulty in the management of the young offenders. During the interviews with the juveniles, many recalled scenes of fights. The main reason invoked was theft among co-detainees and the settling of scores between members of opposing groups. Nevertheless, the life stories collected among the juveniles show that displays of violence were already a strategy of action deployed outside the prison. In prison, it became a tool for negotiating their detention. The question of the structural and diverse violence that is exercised by the institution through deprivation and humiliations is another reality of the prison institution that cannot be denied. My research has however been less focused on institutional violence than on the interpersonal violence between the juveniles, even if the two are intimately linked. A juvenile explained to me that his closeness to the prison warders earned him a beating from the other juveniles, despite his physical corpulence. His fellow detainees suspected him of having shopped to the warders the presence of cigarettes in the Center where their sale and consumption are officially banned for juveniles:

When I came in there [to the Center] they ganged up [group of juveniles], it’s just once that they got me. They ganged up to hit me. That was [the reason for the beating] they took my food [confiscated his food supplies] but it was them [the same juveniles] who were selling cigarettes. When I said that [to the warders] they ganged up to hit me, it was five young offenders. They took me to the shower and hit me there. But when I told the chief about it they were all punished again.
(Interview with a juvenile incarcerated at the MACO, January 2021 [MIM5].)

46The presence of a juvenile master in the Center, the same who is supposed to keep order during detention, does not necessarily stop night-time fighting, even though he sleeps in the detention area with the juveniles. If Korbeogo (2014, 203) claimed that the “exaltation of violence within the MACO is correlative to the growth of the prison population as to the diversification of the social and penal profile of the detainees,” at the time of my survey there was no over-crowding of the prison in the juvenile detention centre. Violence between juveniles was nonetheless a daily occurrence, even if the fights generally went unnoticed by the administration, because they caused fewer physical injuries than among the adult prisoners. A prison nurse testifies to this:

Well, as the consultation is really something [that isn’t done by him alone]. It isn’t just one person who consults. I know that at least twice in the last two months I consulted with children who’d had a fight. With the adults, I know it’s really frequent, they injure each other and sometimes you have to do stitches. With the children, too, well it happens that there are scenes of violence.
(Interview, MACO, 10 March 2021 [PRES3].)

47That violence is a routine part of prison life does not however mean that the young offenders are violent on a day-to-day basis. Their discourse shows that when a fellow prisoner gets involved in a fight, self-control and the injunction not to meddle with the affairs of others which is the rule in the Center is tested. So in the face of conflict, the reflex of the juveniles is to feign ignorance and opt for avoidance. But in reality, when there are bonds of friendship or membership of a group the rule is quickly broken because the involvement of one’s comrades is inevitable. Upon analysis, the violence between juveniles emanates from the different prison hierarchies in situ, which are legitimised partly by the representatives of the institution. In any case, the non-opposition of the administration to the formation of detainee groups is correlative to a certain extent with its inability to satisfy certain needs, in particular in terms of nutrition, of the incarcerated juveniles. Finally, the violence between juveniles contributes to strengthening the position and the power, both formal and informal, of the actors positioned within the hierarchies in the place of detention.

Conclusion

48The research carried out among the juveniles incarcerated at the MACO shows that negotiation, adaptation and readaptation with the various actors within the prison constitute the primordial mechanisms of insertion on the ground. To successfully carry out a survey of this kind, the researcher cannot avoid taking into account the realities of prison life, the long processes of negotiation and the more or less amicable relations that must be developed both with the prison staff and with the interviewed detainees. It is for this reason that the ability of the researcher to negotiate the official norms and the administrative imperatives is essential. Furthermore, the researcher’s ability to forget his double role (social worker and sociologist) to take on that of a table football player - as in my case - may be very relevant. This metamorphosis enabled an insertion in the field of investigation after difficulties in establishing relations with the juveniles. If what is at stake for the researcher and for the juveniles is not comparable, both must acquire similar codes in order to understand each other on the one hand, and to adapt to the world of the prison on the other. It is furthermore at this level that the acceptance of the norms and values of the prison culture is the determining factor. For the juveniles, the rules and values of the prison culture, including slang, prison hierarchies, afiliation groups and the use of violence, all constitute levers in their day-to-day lives in the Center to achieve a better adaptation. However, in a space that is highly hierarchised, such as the Juvenile Detention Center, my experience of carrying out a survey in prison has shown that the researcher who is accepted by the juveniles can certainly succeed in showing unsuspected power relations, both formal and informal. My presence in the Center did not fundamentally disrupt the daily routine of the young offenders and the representatives of the institution. On the contrary, my presence was an opportunity for the juveniles to describe the difficulties they were undergoing. This meant that the researcher was seen as an interface both with the administration and with the “outside world.”

Table recapitulating the interviews carried out at the MACO, 2020–2021

Target population

Young offender ID Age Sex Offence/reason for detention Length of detention Prison situation Family situation Educational level
01 MIM1a 16 M Burglary 6 months On remand Parents alive Grade 1 (CE1)
02 MIM2 16 M Manslaughter 12 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 1 (CP2)
03 MIM3 17 M Theft of motorcycle 7 months Placement in institution Parents alive Grade 9 (Troisième)
04 MIM4 17 M Theft of motorcycle 8 months Placement in institution Parents alive No school education
05 MIM5 17 M Rape of minor 8 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 5 (CM2)
06 MIM6 15 M Theft and fraud 14 months On remand Parents alive Grade 8 (Quatrième)
07 MIM7 17 M Burglary of mobile phones 12 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 10 (Seconde)
08 MIM8 17 M Theft of cash and rape 12 months On remand Parents alive No school education
09 MIM9 16 M Manslaughter 11 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 4 (CM1)
10 MIM10 17 M Assault and battery 8 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 8 (Quatrième)
11 MFIM1b 17 F Fraud 1 month, 25 jours On remand Parents alive Grade 7 (Cinquième)
12 MIM11 16 M Theft of motorcycle 3 months Convicted Orphan (father) Grade 7 (Cinquième)
13 MIM12 17 M Burglary of handgun / mobile phones 2 months Convicted Parents alive Grade 5 (CM2)
14 MIM13 14 M Theft of motorcycle 4 months Placement in institution Parents alive Grade 3 (CE2)
15 MIM14 17 M Burglary of computer and mobile phones 2 months On remand Orphan (father) No school education
16 MIM15 13 M Burglary 1 months, 10 jours On remand Orphan (mother) No school education
17 MIM16 17 M Theft of cash 3 months On remand Parents alive No school education
18 MIM17 16 M Burglary 10 months Placement in institution Parents alive No school education
19 MIM18 18 M Theft of motorcycle 5 months Placement in institution Parents alive Grade 5 (CM2)
20 MIM19 16 M Theft of mobile phones 2 months On remand Parents alive No school education
a. MIM refers to “Mineur incarcéré à la Maison d’arrêt et de correction de Ouagadougou (MACO)” (juvenile incarcerated at the MACO). The MIM reference number is not related to the order of passage of the interview.
b. MFIM refers to “Mineure fille incarcérée à la MACO” (female juvenile incarcerated at the MACO)

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Prison staff and external actors

Identifier Age Sex Residential environment Years of service Function (post held)
01 PRES1a 54 M Urban 17 years Warder
02 PRES2 44 M Urban 10 years Carpentry instructor
03 PRES3 47 M Urban 13 years Head of infirmary
04 PRES4 44 M Urban 16 years Warder
05 PRES5 42 M Urban 14 years Bursar
06 PRES6 38 M Urban 9 years Head of prison social service / Ouagadougou
07 PRES7 37 M Urban 7 years Social service agent /MACO
08 PRES8 46 M Urban 12 years Technical counsellor
09 PRES9 35 M Urban 8 years Sewing instructor
10 PRES10 44 M Urban 15 years Head of prison social service / Dori
11 PRESF11 41 F Urban 5 years Head of prison social service / Fada N’Gourma
12 PRES11 45 M Urban 10 years Head of prison social service / Bobo
13 PRES12 32 M Urban 4 years Faso Deputy Attorney General (Substitut procureur)
14 PRES13 29 M Urban 2 years Deputy Attorney General (Substitut procureur) / children
15 PRES14 44 M Urban 14 years Examining magistrate (juge) for children
16 PRES15 35 M Urban 3 years Volunteer / Prisoners without Borders
17 PRES16 39 M Urban 12 years Volunteer / SOS Prisons
18 PRES17 36 M Urban 8 years Association Lydie
19 PRES18 46 M Urban 5 years Muslim almoner
20 PRES19 45 M Urban 10 years Catholic almoner
a. PRES refers to “Personne ressource” (resource person). The number associated with PRES is not related to any order of passage.

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Bibliography

Books and articles

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Appendix

Two interviews with juveniles at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), 2021

The interviews carried out with juveniles were particularly revealing in terms of learning about the conditions of detention and the experience of delinquency of the young people incarcerated in the Juvenile Detention Center of the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO). Their testimony offers an authentic and sincere perspective of the realities of prison life for juveniles, thus enabling a deeper understanding of the challenges which they have to confront.

The transcriptions of the interviews in Mooré were done by two volunteer associates, trained in written Mooré. Although their efforts are laudable, there remain certain imperfections because of their limited level of training. Nevertheless, these transcriptions offer a precious perception of the discourse of the interviewees and valorise their use of their mother tongue.

The English translation was done by Michael Paul, based on the French translation done by the author.

Juvenile incarcerated at the MACO: MIM7

Age: 17
Sex: Male
Educational level: High School
Marital status: Bachelor
Prison status: Convicted (12 months of incarceration)
Offence charged: burglary of mobile phones
Place of arrest: Ouagadougou
Place: MACO/Burkina Faso
Duration of interview: 32 minutes
Date: March 2021
Interview carried out by the author.
Data
Permanent identifier: https://doi.org/​10.34847/​NKL.D17D1I63.
Download English translation (ODT, 16 Kb; PDF, 164 Kb), transcription in Mooré (ODT, 22 Kb; PDF, 138 Kb).

English translation

Interviewer: What brought you here? I mean can you tell me about the reasons for your arrest?

Juvenile: I went and stole in a shop selling telephones in the neighbourhood […]. I went one night and burgled the shop. I took 34 Android phones and a computer. It was at the time of the Corona virus (lockdown). I’m a schoolboy and I didn’t have any classes. I was at high school in Lycée class Seconde C (10th Grade) […]. I didn’t have any work [anything to do] so wanting to get some money pushed me to steal. I went and did what I shouldn’t and I got caught (arrested).

Interviewer: Can you explain how that happened, what you did to take the phones [in the shop]?

Juvenile: I was a boarder at the high school. We were given leave during the epidemic. So the school let us out to go home. I was with some friends at […] so I went to my friend’s house at […]. They too, they’re mates [who stole things in the neighbourhood]. […]. They showed me their way, how they live [mode of operation for the thefts and organisation in the street]. And often, it’s them who go out burgling then they bring back [they bring back the loot to share it out]. I went to a telecoms shop in the evening to buy earphones. I took the opportunity to look at the makes of telephone, how are things are laid out. And the video surveillance cameras [How the surveillance cameras were set up in the shop] and then I looked at everything [all the different things so I could come back]. […] I went on my own I didn’t need them [fellow delinquents]. When I got there in the evening, I climbed onto the roof of the shop which was made of corrugated iron. Then I made a hole and got in [inside the shop] and collected the phones and then I got out. The surveillance cameras there couldn’t see me [he had carefully planned his theft]. It was by tracing it that the police arrested me. The police arrested someone who paid me for a phone. He shopped me [told the police]. That’s how the police traced the phone to me to arrest me. When I took the phones in the shop, I left the packaging from the phones there. The police used the serial numbers [on the packaging] to trace them. The police came to the neighbourhood […] and they ran into someone who knew me. He brought them to me and they arrested me. It’s the first time I’ve been to the MACO.

Interviewer: How did your arrest go and your arrival here at the MACO?

Juvenile: The arrest, it was in the neighbourhood where the police came. They handcuffed me and they told me they needed me at the central police station. When I had first came to the neighbourhood, […] the people in then neighbourhood didn’t know my name. It’s just my nickname they called me by […]. So they [the police] took my nickname. They came to the neighbourhood [the police were in plain clothes] to make their inquiries [investigations] about my real name. The police couldn’t find me. It’s a friend [fellow delinquent] who didn’t know [wasn’t aware that the Juvenile had burgled a shop] who said he knew the person they were looking for [who had that nickname] it’s him who gave them my real first name. The police came to find me where I was asleep [in our usual meeting place]. They made me come out and they took me to the police station.
I went to the police station to find the guy […] who bought the phone from me. They’d beaten him [hit him]. Me too I explained everything about how it’d happened [the burglary] then they sent me to the cells. And then they took me to appear before the magistrate (procureur) who listened to me and then I came here to the MACO. For my trial, the judges called me in 16 days later to the court I was tried and they gave me [6 months] [sentence requested by the magistrate (procureur)] and then they called me for the deliberations, but the plaintiff [the shop owner] didn’t come on time. So on the day of the hearing [deliberations] I got [12 months] without parole. The police managed to get the phones back except seven of them. But the plaintiff told me that if it was up to him there was no problem, because his business would still keep going. And so now I’ve been here that makes [8 months].

Interviewer: But once you were at the MACO, what were your impressions [first experience of detention]?

Juvenile: When I got here I was really sad. They way I’d been told about the MACO, that stopped me sleeping [at the beginning of his detention, this juvenile had difficulty sleeping]. They said they’re going to shave you with bottles [these are outside social perceptions of prison]. Well, in the end I said to myself that if there are people who are living here then that means I can too. When I arrived, I was put in the annex [special lockdown block near the detention building]. I did three weeks [lockdown] at the time it was the time of the COVID. You had to go to the annex [for the lockdown]. When I got to the Center [after lockdown], the way people talked [the outside social perceptions of the prison] it wasn’t like that. Besides, when I arrived in the annex [for lockdown] it was there that I understood it [people were exaggerating about the MACO]. I think that when you come in here [MACO] everyone had his cell. You don’t see anyone to talk to until your sentence is over and you get out. Whereas when you get here [MACO] they let you out into the corridors. In the cells you aren’t alone, you’ve got company and […] you can chat. […] When I came here [MACO] there, it’s something else [life isn’t what people outside make you think].

Interviewer: Now with the juveniles, what are the living conditions like?

Juvenile: Well with the juveniles the living conditions […] in reality, it’s difficult [the young detainee is hesitant]. But it’s us ourselves, you see. So I can’t say it’s difficult. It’s often misunderstandings [between juveniles], but with the seniors [the older detainees, the detainee juvenile master, and the workshop instructors] their advice is ok there. They can call you if they see your behaviour [bad behaviour] to tell you that here things aren’t like that […]. But some [juveniles] […] think that they’re better than the others. […] Often that means conflicts never end. It’s war, it’s fights, insults. And then […] for the juveniles the food you cook […] it’s not really […] good [quality of the meals] and that goes on [distribution of the prison meals] often you have to wait till two o’clock to get your food. If that [the prison meal] doesn’t arrive at two o’clock you have to have a visit [visits provide resources that some prisoners use to prepare the meals of their choice]. I’m in a group [the juveniles pool their resources in the groups to prepare their meals] in our group if you get something [food or other resources] you share it [pool] to eat some of it at lunchtime and the rest in the evening. Or in some groups you take the food [prison lunch] and in the evening [the members of the group] who have a visit prepare a meal and then they call you.

Interviewer: But you have visits, don’t you?

Juvenile: I have visits, since my parents aren’t there it’s my aunt who’s here [Ouagadougou] my parents are at [...] They [my parents] send me money […]. My aunt is disabled [motor impaired] that’s why she can’t come regularly. It’s every two weeks [that his aunt comes] […] when she comes, she sends me money. But often she sends me food. When I get money, I buy soap and condiments to cook with.

Interviewer: How are the leisure activities organised at the Center?

Juvenile: There are leisure activities. I’ll take football as an example. Everyone can’t have access to the pitch. So often there are rules and you don’t like that [selection of Juveniles for football], but you can’t say anything, you can’t contest it. Often as they write the list to go out to play football, it’s only the seniors [juveniles] who are in the habit of going out. It’s a juvenile who writes the list. So the list it’s the supervisor [juvenile who writes the list for football], but then supervisor he also gives that job to a juvenile. […] If you don’t collaborate [with the Juvenile in charge of writing the list] you can’t go out, so it’s like that. So again [for the] football where you play at the pitch [field] […] its barefoot that you play there too. Do you have a good time, ha!! It’s not easy. The pitch is bare, it’s cement, it’s a terrace. Just now in the Center they [administration] have sent table football tables, games of draughts and ludo. That too not everyone wants to go and play football, some want to play […] table football. Before there was the telly [in the dormitories], the telly is out of order. Since then they [the administration] haven’t fixed the telly yet. They [juveniles on workshop detail] say that TVs have been sent they’re with the juvenile master [in his cell]. The old juvenile master has left. The one who’s there now is new and so far he hasn’t done it [put it in]. […] Some games they [juveniles] aren’t interested in, it’s getting out of here [MACO].

Interviewer: Now I’m going to talk about the culture in there. As you said you’ve lived on the street. You know the street culture, does that exist in there [in the Center]?

Juvenile: In the Juvenile Detention Center, before there were activities that made it easier [the stay in prison]. The days go by and you don’t realise, but now in there it’s rubbish. Before they could take you out to go to the library to do something [reading or plastic arts]. Those who couldn’t do something [reading or plastic arts] they found something. But now there’s none of that. We’re [the juveniles] in the main yard like that. It’s not easy […] If you don’t like watching the telly and you’re available outside [or] you do sewing or carpentry, well that helps [makes it easier to adapt to detention] until you get out. Then for the juveniles there are too things you have to avoid doing. Often fighting [scenes of physical and verbal violences]. If you do that [fight] well there are people who’ll complain [detainees will complain to the juvenile master who’ll tell the chief warden]. Each time they take you to see the chief [chief warder] they hit you there. They can come in and hit everyone [the juveniles in the Center] if there’s a fight [scenes of violence] or if there’s theft [theft among juveniles].

Interviewer: But can you tell me about the language [slang]? In the Center can you communicate without the other juveniles being able to understand?

Juvenile: There’s that [slang in the Center] […] we [meaning his group] use slang to talk. We use backwards French [with words in local languages]. For instance, if I say “Hello,” that’s easy. [But], for example if I say “Frow man,” that means you “have to get out.” They are backwards words [from several languages]. [Yes] that exists here [in the Center]. I talk to some juveniles. That language, I talk it to some and they understand, others don’t understand. Yes you can understand that [slang] in the street. But you can go to school to understand French, but not understand that language (slang). If you spend a bit of time with the kids from the street [street kids who are not bakoroman] you understand clearly. These days we speak that […] it’s French but French mixed with other languages [expressions] Mooré [and] Dioula are in it. That way […] when they [juveniles] talk you can be next to them [but] maybe it’s you they’re talking about, but you don’t understand. You also understand the words [without knowing they’re insulting you].

Interviewer: But when you understand that [slang] and you come to the Juvenile Detention Center can that make life easier for you?

Juvenile: Yes it can help you. Me especially with the language [slang] I manage to make a lot of friends. I build relationships with the kids. Two to four days, we’re together […] there’s already the trust. But if you don’t understand, it’s difficult. […] Others [juveniles] don’t understand it’s true, but when you speak that [slang] it makes them want to. People [juveniles] gather around you, they like it.[…] if you have a lot of friends [in the Center] that makes things better for you compared to those who haven’t.

Interviewer: But is there any contact between the juveniles in the Center and the adults?

Juvenile: Well often we [juveniles] go out to the pitch, to the visiting room, go to walking areas [the juveniles can meet adults in these situations] often there are some [adult prisoners] on work details who come to sell things [sell bread and cakes in the juveniles centre].

Interviewer: the last point I want to talk about is your organisation inside. I know you have a yard leader (chef de cour), how do people [the juveniles who have power] manage their power?

Juvenile: Yes it’s true, but now the yard leader who’s there, I can’t say [anything] [later I learned that they were in the same group]. But for instance the cooks, the turnkeys, they are people who are often [dishonest] […]. The food [when it comes to sharing the prison meal] […] they close the door there. They put it on their plates [fill their plates] before they open the door [of the dormitories to share out the food]. The cooks [juveniles] too, when they’re doing [preparing] the food, the amount that’s been decided to give [for the preparation] […] often they [reduce the amount]. [When] they prepare the meal, they share and for them [the amounts served] are a lot so they can eat at lunchtime and in the evening. And the others [juveniles] go and eat [the small rations that they’ve been served and that will be finished] and in a few hours [in then evening] they will again [the other juveniles will have to] […] prepare it. You see it’s not interesting, but you can’t talk. And then to follow [put some order in the preparation of the prison meal for Juveniles] that’s difficult because it’s the juvenile master who deals with that. But he [juvenile master] he doesn’t have time, he goes out [the multiple displacements of the juvenile master to the various units of the MACO] and he doesn’t come back quickly. In fact […] he [juvenile master] has gone out and by the time he gets back [the juvenile cooks] have finished cooking.

Interviewer: But are there people who aren’t the chiefs but who are powerful and feared by the juveniles?

Juvenile: Yes (laughs) […] if they’re in a group [of powerful juveniles who are in the same group] and if you’re alone well you don’t have any choice [except to submit]. They’re there [in then Center] they come [they do the forcing among the other juveniles] […] if he [powerful and feared juvenile] does something you can’t contest it. He can cause trouble for you. He can take something that doesn’t belong to him. He can put something in your bag, then in a search they’ll find it [whatever he put in your bag]. If you don’t respect them ha!! You’ll have [you’re likely to have problems]. […] If you don’t smoke and you want to stop him from doing what he wants, he’ll cause problems for you.

Interviewer: Is there anything you want to share with me?

Juvenile: There’s something I wanted to say, it’s about the food. The cooks frankly they do things that aren’t right. The quantity [of food and condiments] they give us, it’s because they think it’ll be enough, that they [the administration] give [those quantities]. […] If you reduce it to cook it, it’s true that they [the juvenile cooks] have got some [personal food supplies], but despite that they always reduce the amount of food [intended for cooking the collective meal] and they [juveniles] who won’t have it what can they do? The reduce the amount [and] when they’re cooking again it’s them who’ll help themselves as they like whereas some [juveniles] have got empty plates. They [cooks] they are in the same group. The juvenile master is new, before when [it was the old Juvenile supervisor] if you mess around in the kitchen, he sent you back and brought out someone else. If he ever saw you kicking food he sent you back, but the new one only came less than two months ago. So when he gets more experienced, he’ll understand things.

Interviewer: Tell me about the collaboration between you and the security, how is it?

Juvenile: The people in charge [warders] there’s no problem. They treat us like little brothers. […] They give us advice, I went out to do sewing. But I stopped the sewing. For me, there are jobs there [trades] that I don’t like doing. I can’t do that [sewing] it upsets me.

Thank you very much.

Transcript in Mooré

Transcript by FARGA Nebnoma Basil, a master student in Sociology at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou.

Sokre: ya boɛ wanɛ yãm ka?

Nɛda: mãm kówa portable doogo, ndik bãm piis tã (34) nɛ ordinateur la yii põsga bãg wakate tɩ kareng la kaeye la mãm da mãnda BPC logr roogo la tɔmb sɛ da kabe wã ya yɛ kɩt tɩ mãm tɩ zukɩ sɩ na paam ligdi bilfu, mã tɩ mãnam tib yõk mãm la mãm da be mogpere kareng doogo sɛ bónd tɩ consensus alpha.

Sokre: yãm toɛ gooma nɛ tõnd yãm sɛ mãn tótó nã kuk rooga bɩɩ?

Nɛda: mãm sɛ da be mogpere kareng doogõ wã b ra kisa vuusg lab pag rootaB basa tõndo tɩ mãm zoe keng m zoap rãm nɛngɛ dapoya la bãm mɛ ra yaa mãm wagd taase tɩb wɩlg mãm bãm sɛ mãnd tótó vɩɩya la b zuuda. la wakat fãn ya bãm kɛnd zuuda watɛTɩ zaab kãnga tɩ mãm keng kɔɔsa nengɛ nã tɩ ra tubkeldga la mãm pamɛ keel gues sɛ yaa bum la ninga b sɛ gudɩb teeda wãna wãna tótó la potable dãmba sɛ yaa toto la wakat kɛnga ra pa tɩlayi tɩ zoapa zɩndi ye mãm ye wã ra toɛya mɛ.Mãm tamɛ poog tola võre kɛ pɔgɛ wã tɩb te gusd ba pa tõgɛ yã mã ye.Mãm tõngɛ kɛ pɔgɛ wã wɔk potable dãmba. sã pa sodasã sɛ tõngɛ tusɔya fã wã la b sõ yaɔl tõg yõk maamã. La mãm da koosa portabla, mãm da basa wɔda roogõ wã, ya rɛ la sodaasã kelɛ tug yõk mãm nɛ mam mɩtnga yembre la tug m paam mãm, ya mãm pɩ pɩ mãm sɛ wat bãensa roogɛ.

Sokre: la yãm yõnkra yɩ wanã wanã tɔ tall yãmbu wanɛ bãensa roog ka?

Nɛda: bon yõkra yii […] ka la gudba wa ta yõk mãm la b sɛb mãm nusa basɛ yeel mãm tɩ mãm wa bãm zakɛ wa ti bãm rata mãm be a roodwok sodaasa zakɛ. La mam da ya sãn saka pugɛ mãm sɛ waka pa yiid kiuga nu ye kitam tub sɛ yõk mãnma nɛba ra pas mɩ mãm soondra ye . ya mãm yɔ yaa ndga bal nɛba ra miyã, b ra boonda mã ta pablo escobar ya yɛ la b rik gɩlg saka n na suke, mã zoa yembre m da mɩ mãm ad ya yɛ yaol n kõ mãm yuura ta wa ta mik tɩ mãm ra goin, tib yõk mam la mãm sɛ da ta bãensa roogo mãm mɩka mãm sɛ koos nɛ nɛd la nɩnga b sõ da yõnk yɛ pɩnda wa pagLa b sɛ suks mãm sa wãn b talla mãm kɛng nɛ bɔd nãab nɛngɛ tɩ tɛ mɛ kelg mãm la b wanɛ mãm baensa zak ka. La mãm jʋsga daare b boola mãm rasmã pii la yoobe logr kudga jʋse bud yiri kõ mãm kiuga yoob sɩbgre la rɛ ra mɩkam tɩ mãm taaba ra pa wa ye ya wilgra daar la b ̇ mãm kiuga yoobela kʋsa yeela mɛ tɩ sã yɛ yɩnga yell ka be ye yɛ koos mã nã kɛnã mɛ rɛ kɩt mõsã tɩ mãm be ka kiuga nɩɩ mõsa.

Sokre: la yãm sɛ ta ka wã yãm yãb yaa wãn to?

Nɛda: mãm sɛ da ta ka wã mãm da yẽes da mɛ bal mãm da wat ka wã tib gomd baensa roog nɛ bum la nɩnga ya wa ra nã pɛɛsa mãm nɛ bugteel peese ɩ mãm ra tags d tɩ neb wat ka rɛ kɩtam tɩ mãm mɛ toɛ kegam suuri, mã taaba wakate b ra nɩnga mã zaka yembr pʋga ra ya pʋʋsga bãg wakato sɛ zãg nɛba nɛ bãga loo ngre ya tɩlay tɩb kɛng nɛ fo be. Mãm da tags dam tɩ sã wat fo ra toɛyãm paam fo tab sõse wala nɛba sɛ da togs bum la nɩng la mãm sɛ ta wã yã bumba to.

Sokre: la kom bõnesa bãensa roog vɩɩm ya wãn toto?

Nɛda: ad yaa toogo baa nɛ tõnd mɛ nɛgɩn yaa toogo, ya zaba bal la nãnd tɩ yãm bãng taaba b sag n da nɛba fã zabr sɛ kõ zɩnd b sʋka tɩ wala b sã yã tɩ fo nãkɛdra pa lebd be bʋb toɛ bool n togse kɛr rɩk b mɛ wala bãm yɩɩda nɛba fãã ka. rɛ kit zaba pa sat ka ye.Ya zaba nẽ tʋya la bum fããsɛ toɛ le paase ya rɩɩba wẽgɛ kom bõnesa zɩɩgɛ wã rɩɩba pa lebd be ye, pa sõmã la leb kaõsdɛ tata wɩl luɩga (14h) sã pa wa wakat kãnga tɩ f kɛnga sukr roogɛ f toɛ tɩ paamã lɩgdɩ.Mãm be sul pʋga yãm sã deg woto yã nãgda taaba n welg bɩngɩ n dɩ buka yɩɩbu la fo sã kɛng sʋkr roogo wakat la nɩnga b boonda foo ti fo wa reege.

Sokre: la fo paam da guesg bɩɩ?

Nɛda: mãm paamda guesgo bal mãm barãmba ka yamb ye ya mãm pugdba wat n geet mãm ba mãm rʋgba be [...] mɩ kõt lɩgd tɩ wat mãm pugba nɛgɩn laa ya kʋmsa rɛ kɩta pa toẽ wa daar fã ye, ya rasmã yopoya yɩɩb fã la wata . Ya yẽ mẽng la mãm sõ dat n bool woto wã la sã wa fã a toẽ kõ mãm lɩgdi bɩ bum bɩɩs nã toẽ mãne rɩɩbo, la mã sã deg lɩgda mã raada tafãnda nẽ bum bɩ rɩtse la zɩnbɩɩsi

Sokre: la saka puga kẽdnɩ wala yãm wɩsg tum ya wãn toto?

Nɛda: ya balla tãõng bala la fo sã da pa tãʋdẽ fo panã kɛng ye bale b gʋls da sẽ na taʋba yuya, b kõta bɩbɩlfu ta guls yuya ya saka nɩ beda wata la nɩng tãʋde la rat yetɩ tãoba ya viugẽ la tɩndara ya sɩma leb paasdẽ ya nãsaala kitamẽ ti f sã pa gusɩ f pogda mɛ. Tõnd saka puga runda runda b wa nɩ baby, ludo, damier nɛba fã pa tõɛ tãʋ balla kɩnr wati wisda nɛ balanchoir la tele mẽ da be la tele wã sãma mɛ al sɛ kaʋse tib tall kɛng nẽ maitre mineur la maitre mineur kʋdra le kabe ye yaa sãn la sɛ wa wã. La wɩsg kẽr pa pak nẽb sãnda ka ye, ya pam yɩwã bala.

Sokre: mõsa d nã goma sɛ kẽdnɩ kudm pugẽ yãm yaol yɩ yɩnga waka wã nɩnga ka kudm tum be mẽ?

Nɛda: tõnd sak bili wã pɩnda tʋm ra be sɛ tumde da kɩti wakat nɩnga fo pa bãngd daara saab ye la mõnsa ya zalem. Pɩnda fo ra toẽ kẽnga seb roogẽ tʋ karãm bɩ f mãm buzɩnga la runda runda rẽ le kaye fo sã yɩ zak kasẽng wã pa nãna ye sã ya nɛ mãm fo sã pa toẽ bɩ f pa ges tele la yɩnga mɛ fo toẽ mãna sẽbo bi f mãn raada wãbo bal sõngda mɛ fo sã kẽnga kidg rãm nẽngẽ bi f gus zaba, bal fo sã mãnẽ wakat fã fo nã yã su sãng rãm sɛ nã mãne ti f kẽng nɛ fo naab rãm nɛngẽ. B toẽ kẽmẽ pãb nɛba fã wagdem la zabr pugẽ.

Sokre: togsɩ tõnd yãm goam bud toto yãm sɛ gomd nɛ tab nɛda to sɛ kõ bãng sɛ datɩ yelga?

Nɛda: rẽ bem tõnd gomda sãkãndre le b paas nẽ faren zaala la fo sã gomd rẽ mɩkame tɩ fo wʋmda farendeWala tond sã wa gomd ti Frow man wilg dam ti f yɩ yɩnga ya gom tula bee ka tɩ mãm gomd nẽ nẽb kids ka la kɩnr pa wʋmdye fo tõya mɛ mãn karenga la f pa wumd gom kãnga ye rɛnd tɩ fo tud viugɩn dãmba tõgẽ gom gomd kãnga ya nãnsa gʋm la yaa lẽbla tɩ yãm nã yã tɩ zul la mʋʋr gʋm fã beebenẽ fo toẽ kega yambẽ laf pa wumd ye.

Sokre: la nɩnga fo wumda gom kãnga ta toẽ faa fo gʋma bɩɩ?

Yaa sɩda toẽ sõnga fo mãm mẽnga nɛ gom kãnga mãm paamã zoap rãmb wusgo, koamba nɩ mãm pa toẽ mãn rasmã yɩɩbu pa yã taab ye tɩ tõnd kistab sɩd soamã la nẽb kɩnr pa wʋmdye la fo sã gomda nõmbamẽ b wata mẽ wa gubfo la fo sã tar zoap wusgo sõngda fo saõ sɩ pa tarba.

Sokre: la nɩnga mɩnɩm bee yãmba koala nẽ kasãmsa bɩɩ?

Nɛda: wakat nɩnga d yitame kɛng rasenpuigi wã tɩ gɩlm la rooga nõnre nẽb kɩnre watẽ kosd kokomãndãmba.

Sokre: gomẽ nẽ tõ yãmb taor soaba sẽ mãn toto nẽ naamã bale yã tara zurao soaba ka.?

Nɛda: sã ya nẽ ka yaa zaka nab ya bãm lab kõt kʋlbɩsa tɩ rɩrʋgba sã kabe ya bãmb dik d kʋlbiisa sag lasẽ wã, wakat nɩnga b yãk da rɩɩba wusgo selg ti waʋgẽ ti b sã dʋge bɩ bãm nẽngẽ ya wusgẽ yid nẽba fã mɩti pa sõama la?B rita wɩnd suka leb dɩ zaabre la fo sã datẽ pugba ya toog dɛ ya bibɩɩs nãb n get yel kãnga yẽ yita wusga nẽ sɩn na wa ti saamẽ.

Sokre: la nẽb be pa nãb la tar tõng bɩɩ?

Nɛda: n ye (laado) bale b sã be sul wã ti fo ya f yembre yam yãkr kaye nẽb be tɩb sã mãne bumbu fo pa toẽ tõdg ye b toẽ mãne fa yele.Bi b wa rik fo bumbu bi b leb dɩk bumb wẽgɩn wa sagl fo kórgɩn wã. Fo sã pa yud la fo ratẽ gidga ta ra manãn sɛ data a toẽ mãne fa yɛĺa.

Sokre: nɩnga fo tara bum fo sẽ date sõns nẽ mãm bɩɩ?

Mãm sẽ da rate ya rɩɩba sẽnɩn bale segdba mãnda sẽ pa segde rɩɩba sɛ kõnta ya sɛ nã seke la bãm sã wooge pa sõma ye ya sid tɩ b pa tar sɛ dɩt ye la yãm sã wooge sɛ pãna pam ba mãnda wãna? nẽb saar las ya zaala bãmba woode la b sã segle b le yãkdarɩnda.B be sula yebr nɛ tõnd nãnba yaʋlga sã pa rẽ naaba eric sɛ da be wã fo sã beg bala a yãkda fo la wãnẽ nɛda to, la naab kãnga ya sãna a sã kaʋse a nã bãnga mẽ.

Sokre: gomẽ nɛ tõnd yãm wʋmtab nɛ nãnãmsã?

Nɛda: tõnd nɛ bãensa rogudba yelbund kabe b rɩkda tõnd wa b yoap rãmba la b le sagad n tõndo mãm meng ra yɩti mãnda sẽẽba la mãm basãmẽ bale tumẽ be tɩ mãm pa toẽye m mãmsa mẽ pa tõngye.

Y bark wʋsgo.

Age: 17
Sex: Male
Educational level: High School
Marital status: Bachelor
Prison status: Convicted (12 months of incarceration)
Offence charged: burglary of mobile phones
Place of arrest: Ouagadougou
Place: MACO/Burkina Faso
Duration of interview: 32 minutes
Date: March 2021
Interview carried out by the author.
Data
Permanent identifier: https://doi.org/​10.34847/​NKL.D17D1I63.
Download English translation (ODT, 16 Kb; PDF, 164 Kb), transcription in Mooré (ODT, 22 Kb; PDF, 138 Kb).

Transcript by FARGA Nebnoma Basil, a master student in Sociology at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou.

Juvenile incarcerated at the MACO: MIM10

Age of interviewee: 17
Sex: Male
Level of education: High School
Marital status: Bachelor
Prison situation: Convicted (8 months detention)
Offence accused of: Assault and battery
Place of arrest: Ouagadougou
Place: MACO/Burkina Faso
Duration of interview: 45 minutes
Date: March2021
Interview carried out by the author.
Data
Permanent ID: https://doi.org/​10.34847/​NKL.D17D1I63.
Download English translation (ODT, 15 KB; PDF, 147 KB), transcription in Mooré (ODT, 26 KB; PDF, 243 KB)

English translation

Interviewer: What are the reasons that brought you here to the MACO ?

Juvenile: It was a fight that brought me here. The guy I had a fight with, we live in the same neighbourhood at […]. The guy in question is older than me, he’s about 23. We were neighbours [in the neighbourhood], but our relationship wasn’t very solid. . […] One day […] he was playing ball [with his mates] and he and two of my friends turned up and asked to play […], but he refused. I called him […] when I greeted him and I said […] he began raging at me. I didn’t know if he’d just [maybe] had a fight with someone or not [it was his reaction]. He started insulting my parents. So we started a fight [fighting] and my two friends who were with me separated us. et And then he said the fight wasn’t over. He told me to be ready, because wherever he met me, he was going to beat me to death. Or it’s me that’ll beat him to death. Then the same night he ran into me. As he’d said he was going to kill me, I went back to get ready [he was carrying a knife].
I made a mistake because I didn’t tell someone too [in my family]. I went to buy a knife that I was carrying on me. So when he met me he began to hit me and I took out my knife too and I stabbed him haphazardly. He was wounded, people [around there] ran up to catch him […] [to separate us]. Our yard [family home] wasn’t far from the place where we had the fight. So my parents came running over. Then I ran [the juvenile ran away] to go to a friend’s house. Then I took my friend’s mobile phone to call home. They told me they’d taken the boy to the hospital. It was the next day that they [the family] took me to take me to the police station at […]. The boy was seriously injured, but he’s alive.

Interviewer: Tell me how you were brought here to the MACO ?

Juvenile: I got to the police station at night. I got there at around midnight, it was my brother who took me there […]. They handcuffed me and made me sit down. They [the police] asked me if I smoked cigarettes, I said no. And if I drank Nescafé, I said no because I drank a bit of Nescafé and ly parents realised and they told me to stop because it wasn’t good for children. […]. I was handcuffed until the next day. They [police] took out and put a notebook and a Bic [on a table]. They asked me how the fight happened. I explained and they took notes, then they put me in a cell. I explained and they took notes after they’d put me in the cell. […] In the evening my brother brought me some food. They took me out to eat and then put me back in the cell. Six days later they took me out and told me to wear my clothes. They took me to the law courts and it was in the evening that they brought us here after the judge had heard me.

Interviewer: Before you came here to the MACO, can you tell us about your days outside?

Juvenile: I was a schoolboy in Quatrième [8th grade]. This year, I should been in Troisième [9th grade]. If I got up I went to school, but during the holidays there is a yaar [local market] next to our yard [family home] that’s called […] I went there to help an old man who did sewing. When I found that the market [the old man’s sewing] was strange near us there was a pharmacy I had a friend who was there. I went to help at the car park [guarding the motorbikes]. […] at the beginning of the school year […] I went back to school. I was arrested during the holidays.

Interviewer: Could you tell me about your first impressions when you came into the yard at the MACO?

Juvenile: Well when I was outside and people talked about the MACO, really it wasn’t a game. Despite that, when I got here I really understood that it was no laughing matter. But it’s OK, because I can get hit outside, or killed […] the fact that I’ve come here, I know that, in however long I’ll get out of here. When I got here, my fellow detainees who’d been to court for the sentence came back and encouraged me. You only need courage here otherwise there’s nothing.
When I’d newly arrived at the MACO I was sad. But once in the Juveniles Detention Center I was welcomed like a stranger my fellow detainees gave me clothes and they told me to get washed. They gave me something to eat. After I sat down and we were chatting and they explained [how things worked here]. The first day [at the MACO] I was really discouraged. My parents came the next day to visit me, they told me not to be sad. That it was a problem that had happened [and] that I shouldn’t get discouraged and not think about it too much because that could cause other problems.

Interviewer: Tell me about your conditions of detention in the Juvenile Detention Center.

Juvenile: In the centre, it’s more or less OK. It’s just the food that we miss sometimes [insufficiency of the amount served to the Juveniles]. In the morning, sometimes they make porridge, but it’s not permanent. If they make porridge [in the morning] at lunchtime they cook [but] after the meal if it’s not the next day they don’t cook anymore. The showers, they built them out of concrete. But now they’re beginning to get dilapidated, if they could fix that. The beds, it’s OK, everyone has his own bed and his own sheets.
The main problem is the food because when they make the porridge sometimes there’s sugar and we can eat it. But some days, you’d think there isn’t even any sugar in the porridge. The juvenile master doesn’t allow enough sugar to be taken [food supplies and condiments are managed by the juvenile master]. The porridge it’s also that there’s too much rubbish in it. If you want to look before you eat it […] you can’t [there are worms]. […] I was a cook myself. It was only yesterday that [the juvenile master] started to give us a Maggi cube. Otherwise we cooked without a Maggi cube.
I left the kitchen to have a rest. Yes there are advantages I already know how the cooking is done. Me too I left it so the others could go to the kitchen to learn the way I’d learned. The Maggi [cube] there too they gave us the packet. But when it was finished, the juvenile master told us that he couldn’t care less. At we went on making it with water and salt. When the Maggi [cubes] were finished the juvenile master talked to the Action Sociale since it’s them who’re responsible for the juveniles. It’s them [the social service] who decide what’ll happen.

Interviewer: Given the difficulties about the food, how do you juveniles cope?

Juvenile: In fact, everyone is in his group. We make up groups and we get together to eat [the juveniles pool their resources]. There are some [juveniles] whose fathers and mothers come to visit them and bring them food. Others since they’ve been here [MACO] no one has come to visit them. But although they’ve had no visits, those who have visits contribute and then the whole group manages to eat. There is solidarity among us [in the Center].

Interviewer: Tell us about the visits you get here at the MACO

Juvenile: Yes my parents come and visit me every week. Every Saturday when they come we talk and they bring me food like beans, rice and also oil and Maggi cubes. Sometimes they cook at home and bring it to me. Sometimes they bring me money. But there are times when I tell them not to bother as there’s not much to pay for here. When I get money, I give it to the juvenile master to deposit it for me. If I want to pay for something, I go to get it with him. Yes the group if I want to buy tomatoes at the shop to cook we share it [pool] with the members of the group […]

Interviewer: Could you tell me about the relations [power relations] there are between you juveniles?

Juvenile: Yes, between us juveniles there’s friendship […]. Then there’s also the problem of fights and disagreement. The fights […] sometimes we can’t even explain them to someone (laughter). In fact some [Juveniles] even had a grudge between them long ago. For instance, when a new detainee comes in and we knew each other outside. […] I take him [the new detainee] in my group and we eat together. Then the other groups also want them to join them at the same time […] a grudge can start like that. If I’m enjoying myself at that moment, it’s a real fight there and then. Sometimes too it’s words, insults of our mothers, that also leads to fights.
And then people [juveniles] steal too. Someone stole my 700 F and my 300 F. Between us there isn’t any violence in any case if someone hits you, if you just report it to the juvenile master he goes and tells the unit chief and he’ll deal with you [punish]. In fact there were some koro [seniors] they are guys who were too violent against people [juveniles]. I saw them when I arrived. There are times when they could take off clothes and tell you to do everything you could for the clothes to be washed before the evening. Otherwise you’d have them to reckon with. But they’ve gone [they’ve been released] they got out on parole. It was them [like] the yard leader [were in their group]. If you don’t wash the clothes they beat you [at night in the dormitories].

Interviewer: Could you tell me about the apprenticeship, games and sporting activities in the Juvenile Detention Center?

Juvenile: Yes the apprenticeship workshops are there. The thing is there isn’t much in the yard. There is sewing and carpentry, the carpentry instructor is willing to take a lot of kids. Otherwise the sewing [instructor] there if you come even if you’re a senior if you don’t know how to sew, he won’t take you unless you [have done] […] some sewing already outside. He won’t take you for you to learn here. You have to know how to sew first. But with the carpenter there’s no problem. The sewing instructor it’s him who decided he works like that, he’s a […].
For the games […] we’ve got draughts, table football, ludo. These games have a lot of advantages because there are times when you think about life outside where you were free and meanwhile your head gets steamed up [depressed]. When you go out to play, it’s over and your ideas get sorted out. And then over there [games] there isn’t any violence you go up you go down, and so on. For sport [football] these two days the naba [sports instructors] didn’t come to take us out to play football. It’s more than two months that they came.
When you go out, to ask the officer in charge [head warder] in the evenings to do sport, he refuses. Saying that as long as the sports instructors aren’t there, he can’t give us permission to go out to play football. Apparently it’s because a lot of kids want to escape. But since I came in here, that idea never occurred to me. You know that in the meanwhile, there have been four kids who said things like they’re going to escape. After that they were taken to see the chief (chief warder). So since then that’ve stopped the sport sessions. Among the kids in question, two have gone and there are two left.

Interviewer: Could you tell me about your relations with the warders?

Juvenile: The nanamsé [warders] among them there are people who hit you and you’d never think they had kids at home […] Others are good people even if you do something wrong they call you to tell you, that you mustn’t do that again, that it’s not good. But there are nanamsé [warders] too who’ll whip with you with a rope.

Interviewer: Tell me how can one behave as a newcomer in the Center to get on well with you?

Juvenile: Well if you come down there and you’re new they call you [wongo]. […] even me when I first got here they [Juveniles] called me that. I hadn’t understood. It was later that I understood. In fact it’s just to say that you’re a stranger [new]. But me, I wanted to have a fight. But when I understood […] when you’re a newcomer in the Center they call you [wongo].
If you want that you and the Juveniles there get on, you have to be modest. You mustn’t act like you’re better than them. If they tell you to do something, you have to do it. If the Juvenile master sends you, you have to do it. If they say today it’s you who’s cleaning the house, you have to do it. If it’s you who’s sweeping [the yard] you do it and then there won’t be any problem. But if they tell you to sweep and you refuse, there! It’s that that often causes fights. In fact the cell is cleaned in turns. There is a schedule, for example on Monday we know who’s going to clean the cell and also who’s going to clean the yard. When you’re new, sometimes they even say [Juveniles] that they’re going to bugger you [if you refuse to sweep up]. But all that, that’s just to scare you, it’s just words [to frighten you]. But of you haven’t understood, you might start fights for nothing. But it’s just to scare you so that even if you get out of here [after release] so you’ll think about it and know that life here [in prison] isn’t easy!
Also the seniors [juveniles] here we call them the [guelwongo]. OK, it’s difficult to understand some words [expressions] here unless you’re a koro [senior] or a junior [fellow delinquent] who’s already been in here and then they explain how things work here. You know even the bakoroman [street kids] can’t understand some expressions here. In fact they [bakoroman] too have their way of talking [slang]. The way people talk here [Juvenile Detention Center] is different too. For there as long as you haven’t done time […] you can’t understand certain expressions. Unless someone’s who’s already done time here explains to you, how things are here. Particularly if you come here how they’ll talk to you and how they’ll behave to you. Apart from that you can’t understand the expressions [slang] used here. In fact if you are bakoroman and you come here in prison, even the juveniles don’t like your place [the bakoroman aren’t well looked on by the other Juveniles]. In fact here if you don’t have showers [this is the case for the bakoroman juveniles in the Center] people [other young offenders] will jeer at you. They may even te hit you though the bakoroman don’t get washed like that. Their way of life is different, they are dirty.

Interviewer: Have you got any last words to add or anything you want to tell me?

Juvenile: There’s the problem of cigarettes. They [the warders] prohibit them [cigarettes] in the Center. Because of that not even before [they drew our attention to the cigarette]. But even now the kids smoke cigarettes. Some told me that they can’t do without it because they started [according to our information, the interviewee also smoked cigarettes outside].
They [juveniles] cannot stop it here [stop smoking]. They even say that if they get up and don’t smoke a cigarette they don’t feel comfortable. They can’t work. If they get a cigarette, they can work well. Well since they’re minors, they shouldn’t smoke, but the juveniles make a lot of effort to smoke. They [the warders] tell them to wait until they get out to start smoking again. But even that [the fact of not smoking] means that there are fights since those [juveniles] who don’t earn enough to smoke are embittered [violent]. The price of a cigarette carton is 300 FCFA [whereas outside it’s 25 FCFA]. The warders and the juvenile master refuse to let people bring cigarettes in. People hide in the showers [in the dormitories] to smoke even the cigarette stubs left by the chiefs [warders] that they collect to smoke.
The chiefs too, those that are good people [understanding] they know that as smoking cigarettes has got into the blood [dependance] of the children and that they can’t give it up, they [warders] take their cigarette stubs and throw them away [so some juveniles can use them] and they whip you with a rope [a kind of complicity] or they counsel you. But other chiefs [warders who don’t play along with this kind of complicity] will take you up to the chief [head warder] they’ll drag you by the ear up to see the chief.

Transcript in Mooré

Transcript by OUEDRAOGO Ousmane, a school teacher and also a student in the third year of a degree course in Macroeconomics and Development Management at the Thomas Sankara University, Saaba.
A bibɛɛg goama lebgra yaa Ouedraogo Ousmane sěn ya lekoll kareng sǐngr kareng-saamba sěn leb-n ya karen-bi-bedr arzɛka koglgǎ kareng-dooga tǎab n soaba karenga zak-bedrǎ yʋʋr sɛn boond ti Thomas Sankara wǎ n maane.

Sokre: ya boě wa ne yǎmb ka?

Leokre: ya zabr yell n wa ne maam ka. Ned la nǐng ne maam sěn zab taaba rabee sakaye […]. Bi-bɩɩg lɑ nǐng ne mɑɑm sěn zab taaba ra yɩɩda maam. A ra tara yʋʋm pisi la a tǎabo. Tǒnd raya yakse la d nooma raka wʋsg ye. Dara ye a ra tǒoda balle tɩ maam ne mzoa ye ta nbǒos n nǎ tǎɔ ta ka sak ye. Maam ra boon da lam ta [...]. Maam sěn taan pʋʋsan ye [...] laa n sɩng zabr ne maam. M pa mi a yɩɩ ra zaba ne ned bɩ ya boě. Maam zoapa wa kě tǒnd suka, ta yell tɩ zabrǎ ka sa ye tɩ yěnda sěn sɛg maam zɩɩg la nǐig bala bɩ m rawle ti tǒnd na zaba taab ti neda ye ki. Ne yʋnga a yeka maam la sěn da yell ta na kʋʋ maama yɩnga m rawlam měnga n ra kěnda. La maam maama yǒsgre n ka gom ne ned ye. A sěn yekmaama a sɩnga maam pǎbre tɩ maam yiis sʋʋg n kǒsa yare. Neba yɩ tao-tao n wa kě tǒnd sʋka. Tǒnd zabra zɩɩg ra ka zǎr ne tǒnd zaka la maam roagdba sěn wʋm n wa ta wǎ maam zoam n tɩ be m zoa yembre zakě. Ne yěnda nugě-bǎng la m bool n sʋk ti b yell ta poglamě la vɩɩmě. Tɩ b talla lamě n kěg logtor yiri. Věkembeooga la b rɩk maam n kěng zǎdarm yir sěn be [...].

Sokre: yǎmb tǒe n goma ne tǒnd yǎmb tal wa kawa n yɩ to-to?

Leokre: Maam ta zǎdarm yir n wǎ yʋng midi la ya maam kěem sěn ya bǎmba tʋʋmd n taaga n tall maam n kěng be. Maam sěn ta wa b soga maam ne kěeně n sǐngi la b sok maam tɩ maam yǔuda tab wěnga bɩɩ tɩ m leok b tɩ ayo. B le soka maam n nanbǎng m sen rikda kaf-sabella tɩ m le yell b tɩ ayo. Bala m ra rikda bilf-bilf tɩ maam roagdba bǎng n kɩt tɩ maam base. B zɩnga maam ne kěeně wǎn tǎag beoga věegre. La b rɛgl sebr ne bika la b sok maam tɩ zabra sɩnga wǎn-wǎna. Maam togsdě tɩ b gʋlsdě. Yě logr poore b kěsa maam roog n wǎ. Rasma yoob loogr poore b yisa maam n kit tɩ m yɛɛlem fǔtǎ n tall maam n kěng bʋ-kaoodba zakě. B sěn kelg maama logr poore ne zaabrǎ la b tall maam n wa ka.

Sokre: Taor tɩ yǎmb ka wa ka yǎmb toě go ma ne tǒnd yǎmb berěer sěn ra ya to-to?

Leokre: maam ra ya karen-biig n ra baod BEPC yʋʋ sěn wate. M sǎra věeg beogo m ra rebda lekolle. La vʋʋsma wakato m ra zǎmsda fut sěebo a pʋsyaar, nin-kěema yembr nengě. Raaga sǎ ka sǒma m tɩ sǒgda m zoa yembr sěn maand montɛ gǔub zɩiga farmasi ye noore. Kareng sǎ le yiki t m le loog m lekolle la ya karenga vʋʋsma pʋg la b sěn yǒk maama.

Sokre: La yǎmb sěn ta waogdg bǎensa roog n ka wa yǎmb pipi yǎab yɩɩ boě?

Leokre: sǎ ya sɩda maam sěn ra be yɩnga n wʋmd tɩ b ra gomd rooga goama ra pa reem ye. La ne rěnda fǎa maam sěn ta ka wa m sɩd mikamě ti sɩd pa reem ye. La sǎwǎ maam yɩnga bala m se ra pa yɩnga b toě n pǎbm lamě ku. La m sěn be ka maam bǎens koamb taasǎ n kěng bʋʋdǎ n lebg n wa wǎ kengda maam pɛlga. Tɩ ka ya pɛlg kengre zǐiga bala sǎ pa rěnda bumb ka be ka ye. Maa bǎensa roog n wa taabǎ m sǔura ra sǎama m la maam bǎens koamtaasa beela maam sǎado. B kǒo m la futu la b kɩt tɩ maamso koom. La k kǒ m rɩɩbo mě. Rěnda loogr poore m tɩ zǐǐm tɩ d sǒsda. Tɩ b wilgd maam ka sěn ya to-to. Maam pipi ka taaba m sǔur tɩ ya yelle n wa la m ra tags wʋsg tɩ yǐ me toě wa ne yɛla taaba.

Sokre : gomě ne maam yǎmb koamb kɩdsa sak n wǎ vɩɩ naokěndre yaa wǎna?

Leokre: koamb kɩdsa sak n wǎ sǎwa bilfu. Ya ruba n paoogd tǒnd bala. Raar la ninga b maanda běer yibeogo.Wǐntoogo tɩ b sɛgle. La d sǎ rɩ wǐndga woto sǎ pa beoog yɛsa. Ko soodsa me sǎama m sěn pa b wa mange. Zǐ-gǎadga yěnda sǎwǎ m bala ned fǎa tara zǐ-gǎadga ne fugoabga. Tǒnd zug-loɛg kasnga fǎa ya ru ba. Běera b sěn maandǎ sɩkra wʋmbǎ ya daar-daare. Tɩ bala roog naaba ka sak d tɩ b ningd sɩkra wʋsg ye. Fo sǎ na ges běera rěgda f ka na tǒng n yǔ ye. Rɩɩba sɛglgě mě ro mǎnzǐ wa mii sa m tɩ b sɛgend ne koom la yamsem al tɩ roog naaba wa gom ne taor rǎmba tɩ b le bao n waně.

Sokre : la rɩɩba zug-loesǎ n waogǎ ya wǎn la yǎmb ne taaba maan d n na yɩ la boog yǎmb zug-loe sǎ?

Leokre : Sǎ ya rěnda wǎ ned fǎa be sul pogě tɩ d naag d taab n rɩtě. Roagd b sěn wat n get b rěmba n wat ne rɩɩba naagda m tɩ sěn ka paamd gesga fǎa rɩt sulla pʋga.

Sokre : gomě ne tǒnd b sěn wat n kaaged yǎmb bǎensa roog n ka wǎ?

Leokre : ya sɩda m roagdba wat n get a maam rasma yoboe fǎa. Sibr daar fǎa b wat n sǒsda ne maam la b zǎada rɩ kǎad wala mui, bɛnga kaam ne ro-mǎnzi. Wakat la ninga b sɛgenda mě n zǎ wa. Raar sǎdamě yaligd la kǒt maam tɩ mil yeelb tɩ b base bala bǒ daadma ka wʋg pʋgě ka ye. M saa wa rat bumb n da m regda ligda ne yěnda. N ye m rat n tɩ ra tamaat bitg n wa wa rog rɩib tɩ naag taab sull n wǎ n dibo.

Sokre: yǎmb toě goma ne tǒnd yǎmb kɩdsa ne taaba wʋmd n taara bɩɩ?

Leokre: Tǒnd kɩdsa ne taaba ya zood tǒk n taarn bebe. Zab mě nɩɩ bebe la a zab n toě togs ned ye. Neb kěer ra tara beem kʋdhaln kaose.Wa makre sǎan sǎ wa tɩ tǒnd ra mii taab yɩnga tɩ maam rega maam sulla tɩ tǒnd naaged taab n rɩt n tɩ sulla toa me ra rat ta naaged bǎmb me ya su-yikr ne taab la sěn sɩnga. Zaba naor wʋsg sɩngda woto. Raar la nɩɩng mě ya goam la ma-rǎmb tʋʋb n wat ne zaba. Sasa la niinga ya wagdem. B mii zuka maam koabg la pisnaase ne maam pis-yoobe. Tǒnd ne taaba zaba ya wʋsg ka. Kom-bɛd n rabe ka n ra modgd neba n maam d bǎmb sěn rate. B mii toě n piida b futǎ n yell tɩ fo modg tɩ ka la zabr bɩ futǎ peke tɩ sǎ pa rěnda fo na paama yell ne bǎmba. La b yiimě tɩ b paama soagm-měeg pʋsʋka. Bǎmb sʋka a yembr n da zak naaba.Fo sǎ pa pekdb futǎ b pǎbda foom.

Sokre: yǎmb toě goma ne tǒnd zǎmsg tʋʋm noě, tʋʋm noě n kěesd ligdi la yǐn-wisgra tʋʋm noě yǎmb sak n wǎt?

Leokre : N-ye tʋʋm noě wa beeka. Zǎmsga tʋʋm noě wa pa waog ye. Sěeb zǎmsg bebe, raad wǎab zǎmsg me n bebe. La sǎ pa raada wǎab zǐiga n rɩkd neb wʋsgo, sěeba zǐiga n wǎ yěnda ka rɩk d neb sěn ka mii sěeba baa bilf ye. Ya yěnda mě n yǎka yam n tʋmd woto. Ya tǒnd yǒ-gǔuda. Reema něngě, lido be be dama beemě n le paas baabi-futu. Reem bǎmba sǒgda wʋsgo bala wakat la nǐnga, fo sǎ tags yɩnga vɩɩma tɩ fo zuga wɩnge f sǎn tɩ be beeně fo yǐmda bilfu, yǐn-wɩsgra zǐng n wǎ zǎmsd ba kaos n waa me. Bala b sěn wa wǎ yɩɩda kiuuga yiibu. Tǒnd sǎ tɩ bǒos yǒgǔud-ba taor soaba n na tɩ tǎo balla a zǎgsdame tɩ sǎ ka zǎmsd-ba n wa sor ka toě n paamye. B yet a mě tɩ sǎnda rat n tunga be zoe. La baa daare a ka wat maam yam n wǎ ye. Koamba naas n da yell tɩ bǎmb rat n zoe me tɩ b tall b n kěng komaadǎ wa něngě. Yěnda yinga la b sěn bas yǐn-wɩsgra tʋʋm naora. Koamba naasa sʋka a yiib n yi la a yiib me n ket ka.

Sokre: Togs maam fo sǎ ya sǎana naokěndr bʋgo la fo toě n rɩk tɩ zǐnd n taara ne yǎmb yi nanamsǎ?

Leokre: ya sɩda fo sǎ na wa paalem b boonda foom tɩ waongo la rat n yella m bal tɩ fo na wa paalm. Baa maam sěn wa paalma b ra boonda maam tɩ waongo. Fo sǎ n rat tɩ fo ne koam kɩdsa wʋm taaba rěndam tɩ fo sik f memga.B sǎa n yeel tɩ fo maan bumbu bɩ fo maane. Koamb naaba sǎan yeel tɩ ya foom n pekd rooga bɩ f maane. Fo sǎn ka kɩs de yell ka nan zǐnd ye. Ya kɩɩsga n wat ne zabǎ. Gǎaga zing yěesd me n reesd taaba. Raar fǎa b miin ya ned la ninga n sɛgd n pɩɩg zakǎ. La fo sǎ ya sǎana b yeta me tɩ b na n pǎrga fo sɛɛga la ya gom zaala.

Sokre : gom nɛ tõnd sãne sõ toẽ kẽn bumb nɩnga tõng tɩ b saka?

Nɛda : fo sã wa paalem f bone da fo ta wongo sɛ datẽ yeel tɩ sãna la fo sã pa mɩ fo toẽ manã zabre bale mãm danã zaba mẽ la sã yɩ bulf bala fo sã bãnga bɩla fo basdam tɩ sa. Kɛɛr watamẽ dɩk mẽsã wa nɩng bɛda, sõmbam tɩ fo sã wa bɩf sɩkʋf mɩnga sã pa rẽ pa nã zems ye.
Tʋme be ti ya nɛd fãã nɛ wakate sã ta fo wakate fo nã mãnam bala, yɛla be ka tɩ sã pa fo taalla nɛd sẽ zɩnd ka fo pa nã tõng bang ye gʋm kɛɛr beem tib mãne fo sẽ kõ yɩ ka ti fo sã wa yiyɩnga bi fo ketɩ tags bumwɩns nɩng fo sɛ yã ka wa ye b boondam ti guelwongo a bãngr ya toogo.
Wala yɩng kʋmba b boondam tɩ bakoroman gʋmʋ be ka ti fo pas toẽ bãng ye zɩng fãng tara gomã fo sã pa mãne bãnga fo pa tõẽ wʋma bɩɩsi ye. Fa sãn ya bakoroman waka bɩbɩɩsa mɛng pa rat fo zɩng ye ya wala bãm vɩɩmã ya yook yɩnga tɩb wat ka. B ya rẽgdo b pa soode.

Sokre : yãm tara baasg koɛg bɩɩ?

Nɛda : ya taba bala la yeel la b zabda taba ka kɛɛr yeela mã ti bãm pa toẽ bas ye tɩ bale b sɩnga yɩnga yaʋl n wat ka. rẽ yɩnga pa ka la b nã wa basye. Pɛdb yetamẽ tɩ beoga sã vẽg tɩ bam pa pam taba b pa toẽ tumye. B yɛtbam ti b bas yɩ yaʋl sɩng yuubu, sõ pa pamdẽ yuuda rãm la zabdba.
Taba raʋga yembr ya pɩɩsyoobe nãnãmsa zabdamẽ pedb soolgdame yuuda baa nẽ naab ramb sẽ mɩ yuud kela b zuudam. Tõnd taʋrdam kɛɛr yuudamẽ la n lʋbda b sã yã foo tɩ f yuuda b yõnkda fo tayɩ fo tuba kɩng nɩ guud kasmã nɩngẽ sã pa rẽ b mɩm tɩ taba paamẽ kẽ zɩɩmã ta basba yaa toogo.

Y bark wʋsgo.

Age of interviewee: 17
Sex: Male
Level of education: High School
Marital status: Bachelor
Prison situation: Convicted (8 months detention)
Offence accused of: Assault and battery
Place of arrest: Ouagadougou
Place: MACO/Burkina Faso
Duration of interview: 45 minutes
Date: March2021
Interview carried out by the author.
Data
Permanent ID: https://doi.org/​10.34847/​NKL.D17D1I63.
Download English translation (ODT, 15 KB; PDF, 147 KB), transcription in Mooré (ODT, 26 KB; PDF, 243 KB)

Transcript by OUEDRAOGO Ousmane, a school teacher and also a student in the third year of a degree course in Macroeconomics and Development Management at the Thomas Sankara University, Saaba.
A bibɛɛg goama lebgra yaa Ouedraogo Ousmane sěn ya lekoll kareng sǐngr kareng-saamba sěn leb-n ya karen-bi-bedr arzɛka koglgǎ kareng-dooga tǎab n soaba karenga zak-bedrǎ yʋʋr sɛn boond ti Thomas Sankara wǎ n maane.

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Notes

1 The interviewees (juveniles, instructors, warders and social workers) voluntarily took part in the investigation. This was one of the clauses in my special authorisation for access that was delivered by the ministry responsible for Justice.

2 The choice of the MACO to carry out this research may be explained by the flux of the juvenile population of the prison. In addition, it is the largest juvenile detention centre in Burkina Faso. This means that children are to be found there regularly, in contrast to other juvenile facilities in detention and correction facilities elsewhere in the country.

3 According to Arrêté 2018-107/MJDHPC/CAB dealing with the legal framework for special authorisation for access to penal institutions, the special authorisation for access with media cover is a type of authorisation granted to researchers and the media to enable them tocollect data (sound recordings and film) in prisons in Burkina Faso.

4 The École Nationale du Service Social (ENSS) is a professional training school where social workers in Burkina Faso receive their training in social work. Later, in the years 2005–7, this school was renamed École des Cadres Moyens en Travail Social (ECMTS).

5 I studied law for two years at the Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences Juridiques et Politiques (UFR SJP) at the University of Ouagadougou before going to the École Nationale du Service Social (ENSS) in 2002. Most of the magistrates in Burkina Faso studied law at the same university. Certain magistrates are former classmates and from the same year with whom I have remained on good terms.

6 L’aîné de l’École nationale du service social, chef de la division Action sociale, assurait alors l’intérim de la Direction de la santé et de l’action sociale.

7 It is a one-storey detention facility whose construction was completed in 1964, according to the prison authorities. Since it is the largest detention building, the prisoners call it “Le bateau” (the ship).

8 During my stay from December 2020 to April 2021 in the Juvenile Detention Center, I observed the coming and going of prison visitors: almoners, NGOs, associations. Some came for the distribution of food, others to organise awareness-raising activities focused on delinquency and hygiene. I also watched the filming of a report by a media organisation called “Ciné droit libre” with the juvenile offenders.

9 The Governor of the prison asked the head of the social service not only to allow me to meet the young offenders, but also to provide me with access to all the necessary information on the juveniles. Later, I understood that in the functioning of this prison, everything to do with the juvenile offenders was entrusted to the social service.

10 The handbook on the lexicon of the concepts of social work (2008) in Burkina Faso as a first stage defines psychosocial care as the full set of psychological and social measures that are deployed to help a person in a difficult situation: conselling, information and social support. In the second stage, psychosocial care is seen as a process of prevention, social aid, material, moral, health and legal aid. To sum up, the key point is that it is an approach used by social workers with the aim of easing suffering and solving the problems individuals may have.

11 At the very beginning ofthe interview with the juvenile offender, I began with questions on his identity and that of his parents (surname, first name, age, geographical origins). This is the social workers' way of proceeding, and in this case did not enable me to establish a dialogue with this juvenile.

12 I went to the Juvenile Detention Center for five days without my equipment (pen, notebook and bag). It was once trust had been established between me and the juveniles that I brought my equipment for the remaining eight days. The eighteen-day stay in the Center took place in March 2021. The interviews with the juveniles within the prison took place during the period from December 2020 to May 2021. Furthermore, the interviews with the prison staff and outside actors took place during the period from December 2020 to July 2021.

13 What it entails to be “juvenile master” will be explained in a later section of the article.

14 Muriel Champy (2014, 130) noted the insulting terms with which the inhabitants of Ouagadougou describe the street children: “petits bandits,” “delinquents,” “thieves,” “junkies,” […] “wastrels,” “stubborn kids,” “badly brought up.”

15 I shall describe these positions and these hierarchies later on in the text.

16 Among the juveniles interviewed there were eight bakoroman who did not display their status, given the stigmatisation which targeted them among the other juveniles.

17 As for all the verbatim transcriptions, the identities of the interviewees are not mentioned in order to preserve their anonymity.

18 Refers to a newly arrived juvenile. The term can also designate a juvenile offender who is naive and thus exploitable. The same term may be used to designate a new arrival in the street and thus someone naive who can easily be cheated.

19 Refers to a senior detainee. The expression can also designate a prisoner who is well integrated in the Center.

20 Refers to a senior or a patron or a prior delinquent.

21 This is a codification of the interviews carried out for this study. See, at the end of the article, the section“Table recapitulating the interviews carried out at the MACO, 2020–2021,” and “Two interviews with juveniles at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso”: https://doi.org/10.34847/NKL.D17D1I63.

22 The designation of the cell leader is made through a vote by the juveniles.

23 The Juvenile Detention Center is situated on the eastern side within the MACO, circulation is done in a one-way direction, generally towards the administrative block to the north-west.

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List of illustrations

Title Image 1. The various buildings in the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO) (Ouagadougou Detention and Correction Center)
Caption Legend: 1. Entrance to MACO2. Grand Bateau (main building) 3. Quartier d’amendement 4. Women’s block5. Annex block6. Juvenile Detention CenterCoordinates: 12°23’15.9”N 1°29’08.3”W [geo:12.38775,-1.48565].Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/​Xq4PyHTKo23kaV587. On OpenStreetmap: https://www.openstreetmap.org/​#map=18/​12.387754/​-1.486319.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/sources/docannexe/image/3041/img-1.png
File image/png, 1.3M
Title Table football session with two incarcerated juveniles, MACO
Credits Photo by the author, March 2021.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/sources/docannexe/image/3041/img-2.jpg
File image/jpeg, 3.6M
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References

Electronic reference

Hama Thieni, “Reflective revisiting of Research Fieldwork: Prison Hierarchies and Negotiation of Detention in the Juvenile Section of the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso”Sources: Materials & Fieldwork in African Studies [Online], 9 | 2025, Online since 27 March 2025, connection on 26 April 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/sources/3041; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/13kyo

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About the author

Hama Thieni

Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Ougadougou, Burkina Faso. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8275-5308

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Copyright

CC-BY-SA-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-SA 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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