“Unsound” minds and broken bodies: the detention of “hardcore” Mau Mau women at Kamiti and Gitamayu Detention Camps in Kenya, 1954–1960

Abstract

From 1954 to 1960, the British detained approximately 8000 women under the Emergency Powers imposed to combat the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. Kamiti Detention Camp was the main site of women's incarceration, and its importance has been widely acknowledged by scholars. However, new documentary evidence released from the Hanslope Park Archive since 2011 has revealed the existence of a second camp established for women at Gitamayu, created in 1958 explicitly to deal with the remaining “hardcore” female detainees. This article examines the British struggle to contend with the hardcore Mau Mau women in the final years of the Emergency Period, one that was marked by uncertainty, violence, and an increasing reliance on ethno-psychiatry. Debates about how to deal with this group of women engaged and perplexed the highest levels of the colonial administration, generating tensions between legal, political, and medical officials. At the center of these debates was the question of the female detainees' sanity, with some officials pressing for these women to be classified as insane. The charge that hardcore women were “of unsound mind” was used for a variety of purposes in the late 1950s, including covering up the abuses in the camps. Examining the British approach to these detainees illuminates how ideas about gender, deviancy, and mental health shaped colonial practices of punishment.

Keywords:

• Mau Mau Rebellion
• Kenya
• colonial rule
• violence
• deviancy
• ethno-psychiatry
• detention
• women

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Professor David Anderson, Dr Andrea Purdeková, Dr Emma Hunter, and Professor John Lonsdale for their advice and support while undertaking this research. I would also like to thank the Clarendon Fund at the University of Oxford, the Gates Cambridge Trust at the University of Cambridge, and The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence project at the Peace Research Institute Oslo for their support during this research.

Funding

This work was supported by The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence project at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).

Notes

1. The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 141/6324/93/4, “ALL Woman detainees” to Gordon Walker, 26 November 1958.

2. The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 141/6324/93/4, “ALL Woman detainees” to Gordon Walker, 26 November 1958.

3. The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 141/6324/93/4, “ALL Woman detainees” to Gordon Walker, 26 November 1958.

4. British Hansard, Written Answers (Commons), “Mau Mau Detainees, Hola Camp (Deaths),” HC Deb 09 April 1959 vol 603 cc356-8.

5. British Hansard, Written Answers (Commons), “Mau Mau Detainees, Hola Camp (Deaths),” HC Deb 09 April 1959 vol 603 cc356-8.

6. TNA: PRO FCO 141/6324/77/1, J.S. Simmance to Minister of African Affairs, 3 October 1958; TNA: PRO FCO 141/6324/120, Officer in Charge, Kamiti Downs Prison, Female Wing to Commissioner of Prisons, 30 April 1959.

7. See Anderson, Histories of the Hanged; and Elkins, Britain's Gulag.

8. Anderson, “Mau Mau in the High Court.”

9. Anderson, “Mau Mau in the High Court.”

10. Anderson, “Mau Mau in the High Court.”

11. Otieno, Mau Mau's Daughter; Likimani, Passbook Number F.47927; Santoru, “The Colonial Idea of Women”; Elkins, Britain's Gulag; and Presley, Kikuyu Women. Presley's work, while the most in-depth, is the most problematic as she evaluates the Kamiti rehabilitation program as a success, thus inadvertently endorsing the British stereotype that women were malleable.

12. Kenyatta, Suffering without Bitterness; and Kariuki, Mau Mau Detainee.

13. Anderson, “British Abuse.”

14. Elkins, Britain's Gulag; Santoru, “The Colonial Idea of Women”; and Presley, Kikuyu Women.

15. One example is Lipscomb, White Africans. A further discussion of settler discourse on the Mau Mau can be found in Clough, Mau Mau Memoirs, 33–42.

16. Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 9–53.

17. See Bennett, Fighting the Mau Mau.

18. See Branch, Defeating Mau Mau.

19. Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 354.

20. Presley, Kikuyu Women; and Kanogo, “Kikuyu Women,” 78–96.

21. Kanogo, “Kikuyu Women,” 89.

22. Kanogo, “Kikuyu Women,”, 94.

23. TNA: PRO FCO 141/6244/1/1, Ministry of Defence, “Female Mau Mau Terrorists, Memorandum by the Kenya Intelligence Committee,” 4 November 1954; and Presley, Kikuyu Women.

24. Corfield, Historical Survey, 90.

25. Quoted in Presley, “Mau Mau,” 298.

26. Kenya National Archives, Nairobi (KNA) DC/KBU 1/44, “Kiambu District Annual Report,” 1953.

27. Askwith, From Mau Mau to Harambee, 106.

28. Askwith, From Mau Mau to Harambee, 106.

29. Sorrenson, Land Reform in the Kikuyu Country, 110–2.

30. Sorrenson, Land Reform in the Kikuyu Country, 110–2.

31. Elkins, Britain's Gulag, xii.

32. Kamiti had accommodated female Mau Mau convicts and detainees earlier in Emergency Period, but in early 1954, it was suggested as the site for the main women's detention camp. By 20 November 1954, Kamiti had 2000 female Mau Mau convicts and detainees. See KNA AB/2/51/3 J.H. Lewis to Hon. Director of Public Works, 22nd March 1954; KNA AB/1/92/42, S.H. La Fontaine to Director of Information Services, 20 November 1954.

33. Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 313.

34. Elkins, “The struggle for Mau Mau rehabilitation,” 34–5.

35. Kennedy, “Constructing the Colonial Myth,” 241–60.

36. For more on Leakey see Berman and Lonsdale, “Louis Leakey's Mau Mau.’ On Carothers see McCulloch, Colonial Psychiatry, 64–76.

37. See Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 279–284.

38. See Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 282.

39. Santoru, “The Colonial Idea of Women,” 265.

40. “Screening” was an often violent interrogation process carried out by security forces and other officers of the state to determine whether or not an individual suspected of Mau Mau involvement should be detained, and if those in detention were sufficiently rehabilitated to merit release. See Anderson, “British Abuse,” 702.

41. Swahili terms for “hyena,” “goat,” a calf that is too young to determine its sex, a cow that has reached the milking stage, a fully-grown cow. See Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 223.

42. KNA AH/4/26/11/A, “Rehabilitation of Detained Persons,” 1953.

43. KNA AH/4/26/11/A, “Rehabilitation of Detained Persons,” 1953.

44. Askwith, From Mau Mau to Harambee, 107.

45. KNA JZ/2/26/10, “Memorandum, Progress Report – Rehabilitation,” 30 December 1954.

46. Archives and Special Collections, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Conference of British Missionary Societies (CBMS) 278, E. Fletcher to Chief Secretary, 5th June 1955.

47. SOAS CBMS 278 E. Fletcher, “Proposed Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Women and Girls in the Prisons and Camps,” February 1955. The CBMS collection at SOAS is the main site for Fletcher's papers.

48. SOAS CBMS 278 E. Fletcher, “Proposed Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Women and Girls in the Prisons and Camps,” February 1955. The CBMS collection at SOAS is the main site for Fletcher's papers.

49. SOAS CBMS 278 E. Fletcher, “Proposed Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Women and Girls in the Prisons and Camps,” February 1955. The CBMS collection at SOAS is the main site for Fletcher's papers.

50. See SOAS CBMS 278, E. Fletcher, The Truth about Kenya.

51. For more on the British Government's response to Fletcher, see: Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 323–4; and Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 291–4.

52. Rhodes House, Bodleian Library (RH) MSS. Afr.s.2155, Papers of T.G. Askwith, “Mau Mau: was it really necessary?”1994.

53. RH MSS. Afr.s.1770/1, Papers of T.G. Askwith, Memoirs of Kenya 1936–61, 51.

54. RH MSS. Afr.s.1770/1, Papers of T.G. Askwith, Memoirs of Kenya 1936–61, 51.

55. KNA AB/2/23, “Rehabilitation Conference,” January 7, 1957.

56. KNA AB/2/23, “Rehabilitation Conference,” January 7, 1957.

57. Anderson, “British Abuse,” 707.

58. Anderson, “British Abuse,” 707.

59. Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 319–332.

60. Anderson, “British Abuse,” 700.

61. For more on the treatment of male detainees see Anderson, “British Abuse.”

62. TNA PRO: FCO 141/6324/67, Director of Intelligence and Security to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 16 July 1958.

63. TNA PRO: FCO 141/6324/67, Director of Intelligence and Security to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 16 July 1958.

64. TNA PRO: FCO 141/6324/67, Director of Intelligence and Security to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 16 July 1958.

65. KNA JZ/16/7/80, “The Biggest Women's Prison in the World,” Sunday Post, June 1956.

66. KNA MAC/KEN/33/728, East African Women's League, “The Story of Kamiti Prison,” 1956.

67. TNA PRO FCO/141/6324/25/1, Warren-Gash to Secretary of State for Community Development, 2 August 1957.

68. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

69. KNA AB/1/112, “Annual Report for 1956”; TNA PRO FCO/141/6324/25/1, K. Warren-Gash to Secretary of State for Community Development, 2 August 1957.

70. KNA AB/1/92/140, Warren-Gash to Secretary for Community Development, 25 March 1957.

71. KNA AB/1/92/155, Henry Kuria to Secretary for Community Development, 31 July 1957.

72. KNA AB/1/92/140, Warren-Gash to Secretary for Community Development, 25 March 1957.

73. TNA PRO FCO/141/6324/25/1, Warren-Gash to Secretary for Community Development, 2 August 1957.

74. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/25/1, Warren-Gash to Secretary of State for Community Development, 2 August 1957.

75. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/25/1, Warren-Gash to Secretary of State for Community Development, 2 August 1957.

76. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/25, F.A. Loyd to Secretary for Community Development, 9 August 1957.

77. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/32, “Hard Core Female Detainees,” 27 August 1957.

78. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/35, “Hard Core Female Detainees,” 29 October 1957.

79. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/36, J.S. Lewis to Ministry of African Affairs, 2 December 1957.

80. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/65, District Officer Hola to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of African Affairs, 8 July 1958.

81. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

82. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

83. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77/1, J.S. Simmance to Minister for African Affairs, 3 October 1958.

84. TNA: PRO FCO141/6234/58, T. Gavaghan to Provincial Commissioner, Central Province, 5 June 1958.

85. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dungbeetles.

86. British Hansard, Written Answers (Commons), “Detention Camps and Detained Persons,” HC Deb 12 February 1959 vol 599 cc226-7W.

87. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

88. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

89. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77/1, J.S. Simmance to Minister for African Affairs, 3 October 1958.

90. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

91. TNA PRO: FCO/141/6324/96, T. Gavaghan to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 20 February 1959.

92. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77/1, J.S. Simmance to Minister for African Affairs, 3 October 1958.

93. TNA PRO: FCO/141/6324/96, T. Gavaghan to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 20 February 1959.

94. KNA AB/2/23, “Rehabilitation Conference,” 7 January 1957.

95. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “Statement to Parliament.”

96. Anderson, “British Abuse,” 701.

97. The link made by the British between dissent and madness was apparent prior to the Emergency Period. Between 1911 and the early 1950s, Kenyan prophets and visionaries seen as a threat to colonial power were described in “psychologized language” and deemed to be “neurotic” and “mad” See Mahone, “The Psychology of Rebellion,” 241–258.

98. Hynd, “Deadlier than the Male?” 28.

99. Hynd, “Deadlier than the Male?” 28.

100. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

101. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/97, Governor to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 28 February 1959.

102. See Chapter 7 of Elkins, Britain's Gulag for a discussion of physical and sexual abuse in Kamiti.

103. SOAS CBMS 278, Eileen Fletcher to L.B. Greaves, 28 June 1956.

104. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 25.

105. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 12–13.

106. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 26.

107. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 25.

108. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 26.

109. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/93/4, “ALL Woman detainees” to Gordon Walker, 26 November 1958.

110. KNA AH/9/8/70, “Chronically Sick Detainees,” 20 June 1956.

111. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 25.

112. Royal Courts of Justice, Witness Statement of Jane Muthoni, 25.

113. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77/1, J.S. Simmance to Minister for African Affairs, 3 October 1958.

114. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77, District Commissioner Kiambu to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 6 October, 1958.

115. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

116. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/77, District Commissioner Kiambu to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 6 October 1958.

117. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/97, Governor to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 28 February 1959.

118. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/82, J.S. Simmance to Special Commissioner, Central Province, 26 November 1958.

119. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/96, T.Gavaghan to the Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 20 February 1959.

120. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/79, District Commissioner Kiambu to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 6 October 1958.

121. Anderson, “British Abuse,” 714.

122. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/96/1, O.H. Killen to District Commissioner, Kiambu, 20 February 1959.

123. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/96/1, O.H. Killen to District Commissioner, Kiambu, 20 February 1959.

124. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/96/1, O.H. Killen to District Commissioner, Kiambu, 20 February 1959.

125. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/97/2, J.S. Simmance to District Commissioner, Kiambu, 20 February 1959.

126. Hynd, “Deadlier than the male?” 31. Where Mau Mau's women were condemned by their “madness,” in other colonial examples, this was used as a tool for leniency. In Hynd's study, perceptions of madness are shown to have led to a more lenient treatment of female offenders on trial for capital punishment. She examines several cases of child murder in Kenya in the 1920s, in which mothers who murdered their children were found “guilty but insane,” and had their sentences commuted, despite rationalizing their actions and having little medical evidence of insanity. McKittrick, “Faithful Daughter, Murdering Mother,” reaches a similar conclusion, showing how an accused Ovambo woman was committed to a mental hospital and then allowed to live with her mother, despite flimsy medical evidence, and Zimudzi, “African Women,” finds parallel treatment of women charged with spousal murders in colonial Zimbabwe, who would often be “recommended to mercy” because of the “irrational” nature of their crimes.

127. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/115, P.S. Garland to the Director of Medical Services, 21 April 1959.

128. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/121, P.S. Garland to the Honourable Attorney General, 16 May 1959.

129. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/115, P.S. Garland to Director of Medical Services, Nairobi, 21 April 1959.

130. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/115, P.S. Garland to Director of Medical Services, Nairobi, 21 April 1959.

131. KNA MSS 115/50/16, “Report of the Committee on Emergency Detention Camps,” August 1959.

132. KNA MSS 115/50/16, “Report of the Committee on Emergency Detention Camps,” August 1959.

133. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/122, Crown Counsel to Permanent Secretary for African Affairs, 27 May 1959.

134. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/134/1, Crown Counsel for Director of Medical Services, 25 June 1959.

135. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/134, Crown Counsel to Garland, 30 June 1959.

136. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/134, Crown Counsel to Garland, 30 June 1959.

137. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/122, Crown Counsel to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of African Affairs, 27 May 1959.

138. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/122, Crown Counsel to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of African Affairs, 27 May 1959.

139. Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, 326–7.

140. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/126, A.C. Small to P.S. Garland, 4 June 1959.

141. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/126, A.C. Small to P.S. Garland, 4 June 1959.

142. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/126, A.C. Small to P.S. Garland, 4 June 1959.

143. McCulloch, Colonial Psychiatry, 28.

144. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/121, P.S. Garland to Attorney General, 16 May 1959; TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/117, P.S. Garland to Director of Medical Services, 23 April 1959.

145. Jackson, Surfacing Up, 175.

146. Jackson, Surfacing Up, 175.

147. TNA: PRO FCO/141/6324/145, R.G. Wilson to Major J.B.W. Breckenridge, 10 September 1959.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence project at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).