Abstract
In Rwanda, from as early as July 1994, the mass influx of alleged genocide perpetrators in national prisons and local jails was all the more problematic as the country did not have the necessary means to ensure that they were held in secure and decent conditions. Through a historical account of the Rwandan penitentiary system between 1994 and 2017, this article seeks to analyze both the strategies implemented by the state in an effort to address the penitentiary crisis and the consequences of these political choices. Combining historical and ethnographical perspectives, it shows how former dignitaries of the Habyarimana regime, incarcerated for their involvement in the genocide against the Tutsi, were encouraged to co-manage the prisons and the different government-led projects promoting justice, confession, and reconciliation that were run within them.