Abstract:
This article commences with an exploration of how the diet scales of the Transvaal
prisons were underpinned by racial discrimination from 1901 to 1911: people of
colour received smaller varieties and quantities of food than white prisoners. To
highlight how the racialised diet scales were implemented as a punitive measure,
the article provides a discussion of how Chinese prisoners were placed on restricted
diets to make their imprisonment inimical and forbidding. The study then proceeds
to investigate two groups that levelled complaints against the racialised diet scales.
The fi rst group was the Chinese prisoners at the Johannesburg gaol that served long
sentences. The discussion of this group reveals the agency of the inmates, who
committed a hunger strike to protest the diet scale. The second group consisted
of the Chinese and Indian organisations that supported the imprisoned satyagraha
campaigners. Through the lobbying efforts of these organisations, the Transvaal
government was constantly brought to address, as well as pressed to attend to the
issues about the diet scales. In sum, the two groups championed a revised diet
that was respectful of the heritage, habits, and cultures of the Chinese and Indian
prisoners.
