ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reaction to living conditions in the penal camps: written complaints. The establishment of mobile penal camps in Senegal, an integral part of French West Africa, was in this respect both a novel undertaking and an emblematic one. In 1936, Colonial Inspector Monguillot carried out a large-scale inspection of prisons, a proposing reforms of the prison system in the colony by making the use of the penal workforce more efficient. Prisoners with sentences longer than one year were sent to one of three camps in a Senegal, depending on the duration of their sentence. The letters are interesting not just because they denounce the camps’ degrading living conditions but also because they demand improvements. The complaints are written in a very formal style, with long, overblown declarations of respect at the beginning and end of the documents.
