Reflective revisiting of Research Fieldwork: Prison Hierarchies and Negotiation of Detention in the Juvenile Section of the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO), Burkina Faso

This article offers reflective feedback on a piece of research carried out between December 2020 and May 2021 among minors imprisoned at the Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO). This fieldwork was used to collect data for my Master’s thesis. My dual role as a prison social worker and as a trainee sociologist led me to examine the difficulties of accessing prison space, and to reflect on the need for the researcher to appropriate prison’s norms and codes. Thus, this article explores the various processes used to gain authorisation for accessing and collecting material. It also examines the influence of the prison hierarchies on the organisation and the workings of the juvenile section. The results of this reflective feedback show that research on minors’ detention involves particularly long negotiation processes with the various actors. Negotiations for accessing the field and for establishing trust-based relationships with the staff and the minors are necessary. In addition, the results show that hierarchies in the juvenile section, mostly based on adopting slang expressions, assimilating codes of conduct, joining social groups, and the use of violence between peers, are essential levers for adapting to prison life.