Gendering Prison Staff: Male Guards, Gendered Vulnerabilities and Abuse in Late Ottoman Women’s Prisons, 1876–1918

This article examines inspection methods in Ottoman women’s prisons, specifically focusing on the impact of appointing male guards for women’s prisons. It provides a comprehensive overview of the architectural structure of Ottoman prisons, detailing the roles of prison employees and the security apparatuses in carceral areas along with the analysis of Ottoman prison reform spanning from the 1850s until the demise of the Empire. The central concentration is on the misconduct of guards and wardens in women’s prisons and the sort of hardships such as dire living conditions endured by both men and women inmates in rudimental carceral places studied through archival materials. The analysis of this article reveals a pervasive security vacuum that led to instances of sexual abuse and financial exploitation in women’s prisons. The scope extends beyond central prisons ( Habshâne-i Umumi ) to encompass both proper and leased carceral areas, namely, imams’ houses, all of which grapple with similar security challenges stemming from malpractice by prison guards. In short, this article sheds light on the complexities of prison security, the fragility of control mechanisms in women’s prisons and a crisis situation which mainly derived from gender dynamics in late Ottoman prisons.