Zanzibar Prison service cap badge

Highly detailed blackened metal cap badge;

What the badge says; IDARA YA GEREZA ZANZIBAR TANZANIA

Translation:

“Idara ya Gereza” = “Prisons Department” (Gereza = prison in Swahili)

🔍 What the symbols mean

The torch is the Uhuru Torch — Tanzania’s national symbol of freedom, enlightenment, and vigilance. It appears on many official Tanzanian emblems, especially those linked to law enforcement and national security.

In many East African correctional-service badges (including Kenya and Tanzania), crossed tools like axes or hammers represent labour, discipline, and service, similar to how Western prison insignia might show keys or batons.

The badge is shaped like a traditional masai-style shield, which is a common East African motif used for protection, authority, and state power

 Zanzibar maintains its own semi-autonomous government, with separate police, prison, and defence structures — even though it’s federally part of Tanzania.

👉 Zanzibar Prisons Department (Zanzibar Correctional Service

🕰️ Approximate date

 suggest 1970s–1990s, 

Zanzibar Prisons Department (Idara ya Gereza, Zanzibar, Tanzania)

• Torch = National vigilance

• Crossed axes = discipline, labour, internal security

• Shield = authority/protection

• Worn by: Prison officers / wardens