Pains of Imprisonment: Narratives of Women Imprisoned for Murder in Uganda

Abstract

Although there is considerable research on the pains experienced by female prisoners, little if any is known about the pains experienced by women imprisoned for murder in Uganda. To fill the identified gap, I conducted a phenomenological study with 30 women convicted of murder in Uganda. This paper provides insight into the pains that women experienced inside the prison. Data were collected using face-to-face in-depth interviews and analyzed using NVivo 12 software. This involved transferring interview notes to the software to create a coding structure and specific categories where themes that form the discussion of this paper were generated. Women reported the following pains of imprisonment: loneliness and separation from children, the agony of death sentence, tribulations of old age, delayed / no response from the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and, pains of re-entry. Recommendations for policy formulation and practice are discussed.