Abstract:
This article critiques four Kenyan prison documentaries which present young women’s pathways to prison. The
critique reveals how the documentaries effectively go beyond the spectacle of crime, interrogate the histories
of the young women convicts, and challenge a judicial system that downplays the link between childhood
abuses and criminality. By reading the imprisonment of young women in the larger context of crime, this
critical engagement envisions transformation of society: it critically demonstrates societal practices that violate
the rights of girls which subsequently result in their aggression. I further signpost detention at the President’s
pleasure and life sentences imposed on the young offenders as the epitome of state patriarchy. Above all, this
critique unmasks imprisonment enabled by patriarchy in Kenya and argues for transformation of societal
structures that facilitate gender inequalities.
