LES PERLES POUSSIEREUSES AU PURGATOIRE : REGARD SUR LES CONDITIONS DE VIE ET DE SOCIALISATION DES FEMMES INCARCEREES A LA PRISON CIVILE DE ZINDER

Niger, like all other African countries, has its own standards and values that govern society. In order to ensure the safety of all, prisons have been established in the regions. The Zinder prison is a closed facility dating back to the colonial era (1905-1945) which houses individuals awaiting trial as well as those who have been tried and convicted by the courts. The inmates are both men and women. The aim of this study is to understand how women incarcerated in Zinder civil prison live and socialise in their new environment. To address this concern, a mixed approach is used throughout the study, following a causal and functional framework. To do this, a questionnaire was sent to the women; then three interview guides were sent out, one to prison administrators,another to social workers from the various Organisations involved, and the last to the prison nurses. According to this research, the results obtained reveal that women incarcerated in Zinder civil prison have different socio-economic statuses. Their socialisation depends not only on the conditions of adaptation and the relationships they forge with others, but above all on the intervention of state and non-state actors.Furthermore, the results show that women incarcerated in Zinder civil prison face enormous material, moral and physical problems.