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Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous criminals. Although the prison was designed with a maximum capacity of 4,336 offenders attended by a staff of 1,278, the current inmate population is over 7,000 (a figure which fluctuates daily).


Structure of the prison

Since it was established in 1964, the prison has been systematically expanded, so that Pollsmoor today comprises five prisons: * The Admission Centre serves a number of the courts in the Cape Peninsula (
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, Mitchell's Plain,
Somerset West Somerset West ( af, Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hottent ...
and Wynberg). * Medium A Prison houses both awaiting trial and sentenced juveniles between the ages of 14 and 17. * Medium B Prison houses sentenced adult males. * Medium C Prison houses sentenced adult males with sentences of up to a year, sentenced adult males on day-parole or soon-to-be-released males. * The Female Prison houses juvenile (under 18) and adult women, both awaiting-trial and sentenced. There are also a number of infants under the age of 2 living in the Female Prison. The prison also hosts a number of facilities to assist in the training of prisoners so as to reduce
recidivism Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...
upon release such as a restaurant that is open to the public.


Admission centre

The Pollsmoor Admission Centre (formerly the ''Maximum Prison'') is the largest of the five prisons making up the Pollsmoor Management Area. The vast majority of its approximately 3,200 inmates (almost half the total inmate population of Pollsmoor) are unsentenced awaiting-trial prisoners, or sentenced prisoners facing further charges. As an awaiting-trial prison (or remand centre) its population is constantly changing. On a daily basis, about 300 prisoners are booked out to appear in various courts around
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
. Some return as sentenced prisoners, others do not return at all, but large numbers come back to their cells to await a future court date, sometimes as distant as six months later. The Pollsmoor Admission Centre receives prisoners sent to it by the courts. It is massively overcrowded, holding more than twice as many prisoners as it was designed for. By far the majority of prisoners live in communal bungalow cells, in which up to 40 prisoners sleep on double and triple bunks. Even the tiny single cells (of 2.5 by 2 metres) are occupied by one or three prisoners.


Gangsterism inside Pollsmoor

Gangsterism is a potent feature of Pollsmoor Prison life, and gangs are segregated into three separate sections on a single floor, accommodating a total of between 500 and 750. This segregation is in part an attempt to limit the gangs' ongoing recruitment of new members from amongst the recent arrivals. Because wardens are present in the sections for less than two-thirds of the day, the gangs are enormously powerful in the communal cells. Gang rule involves extreme violence, including sexual violence. The prison's gangs, the 26s, 27s, and 28s, are collectively referred to as " The Numbers". The groups are loosely affiliated with one another, each having its own hierarchy, leadership, and function within the whole. The 26s secure money via gambling and smuggling. The 27s serve as gang enforcers. The 28s are the soldiers for all three groups, and deal with procuring and keeping sexual partners or "wyfies". Gang members mark membership with tattoos, and some remove their top front teeth, a body modification known as a ''
passion gap Passion gap or Cape Flats smile is a dental modification originating in Cape Flats, Cape Town, South Africa in which people deliberately remove the upper front teeth (maxillary incisors) for fashion and status. The practice is popular among Colo ...
.'' Few members achieve the means to leave these gangs after leaving prison. They tattoo their ranks on their bodies or faces, so that even outside prison their status is clear. Some members are so tied into the gang culture that life outside is unthinkable, and they would rather confess to a crime they didn't commit than be free men walking the streets. The majority of prisoners are from depressed communities where there is large-scale unemployment, a lack of educational and other facilities, homelessness and gangsterism. As a predominantly awaiting-trial institution, there are few resources at Pollsmoor for prisoner programmes, other than visits by independent religious caregivers and non-governmental organisations. Inmates spend nearly all day in their overcrowded cells, and spend only one hour a day having outdoor exercise in enclosed courtyards. Little exercise occurs during this hour, since gang leaders utilise this time to communicate with prisoners in other cells, exchange drugs, mete out punishment to those in other cells etc. Any inmate who dares to exercise is called to "attention" before a gang leader, and may face punishment. Drugs are commonly smuggled into cells, mainly from returning prisoners and corrupt prison wardens.


The Prisons Transformation Project

The Prisons Transformation Project is run by the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
Centre for Conflict Resolution was inspired by the above-mentioned BBC documentary, and attempts to raise self-awareness among prisoners in an attempt at rehabilitation. This includes humane treatment that restores dignity, educating them on alternatives to violence in resolving conflict and giving them birds and feral cats to care for.


Notable inmates


Current inmates

* Zwelethu Mthethwa is a South African artist convicted of murder in 2017.


Former inmates

*
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...
was one of the most famous prisoners. He described Pollsmoor Prison as "the truth of
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's haunting line about the tent of blue that prisoners call the sky." *
Marlene Lehnberg Marlene Lehnberg (15 October 1955 – 7 October 2015) was a South African murderer more commonly known as The Scissor Murderess. She was 18 years old in 1974 when she hired Marthinus Choegoe to stab Susanna Magdalena van der Linde, the wife of L ...
, known as The Scissor Murderess, served her sentence in Pollsmoor but was paroled in 1986. *
Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), h ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist. * Nelson Mandela, political prisoner, first president of a democratic South Africa, anti-apartheid activist, and ANC member was held in Pollsmoor prior to his release from prison by the apartheid government. *
Ahmed Kathrada Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of the African National Con ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist *
Raymond Mhlaba Raymond Mphakamisi Mhlaba (12 February 1920 – 20 February 2005) was an anti-apartheid activist, Communist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC) also as well the first premier of the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba spent 25 years of his life ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist *
Andrew Mlangeni Andrew Mokete Mlangeni (6 June 192521 July 2020), also known as Percy Mokoena, Mokete Mokoena, and Rev. Mokete Mokoena, was a South African political activist and anti-apartheid campaigner who, along with Nelson Mandela and others, was imprison ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist *
Jafta Masemola Jafta Kgalabi Masemola (December 12, 1931 – April 17, 1990), also known as The Tiger of Azania and Bra Jeff, was a South African anti-apartheid activist, teacher, and founder of the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). He spent 27 ...
, political prisoner, co-founder and senior
PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Military * Rapid Deployment Force (Malaysia), an armed forces unit * Patriot Advanced Capability, of the MIM-104 Patriot missile * Civil Defense Patrols (''Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil''), Guatemalan militia and paramil ...
member and anti-apartheid activist *
Elias Motsoaledi Elias Mathope Motsoaledi (26 July 1924 – 9 May 1994) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and one of the eight men sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial in July 1963 and paternal uncle to South African politician and m ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist *
Wilton Mkwayi Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi (17 December 1923 – 24 July 2004) was an African National Congress veteran and one of the first six members of Umkonto weSizwe to be sent for military training. Early life Wilton “Bri-Bri” Zimasile Mkwayi was born ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member and anti-apartheid activist *
Oscar Mpetha Oscar Mafakafaka Mpetha was born in Mount Fletcher 5 August 1909 and died on 15 November 1994. He was a South African trade unionist and political activist. Personal life Mpetha was educated at local schools and at Adams College. In the 1930s, he ...
, political prisoner, senior ANC member, unionist and anti-apartheid activist *
Allan Boesak Allan Aubrey Boesak (born 23 February 1946) is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and politician and anti-apartheid activist. He was sentenced to prison for fraud in 1999 but was subsequently granted an official pardon and reinstated ...
served his prison term here after he was convicted of fraud in 2000.


Pollsmoor in the media


BBC documentary

In 2001 Pollsmoor prison was the subject of Clifford Bestall's BBC documentary, where they focussed on two soon-to-be-released prisoners, Erefan Jacobs and Mogamat Benjamin (then leader of the "28" gang), and followed their adapting into civilian life again after their release.


Mikhael Subotzky photographs inside Pollsmoor

On 27 April 2005 ( Freedom Day in South Africa) photographer Mikhael Subotzky exhibited his panoramic photographs of the inside of the prison at Pollsmoor. It was titled "'Die Vier Hoeke'" (''The Four Corners'') where the exhibition space echoed that which was being exhibited. Subotzky also commented on the meaning of this as well, where the viewers were part of the bureaucracy of getting into and eventually being locked into the maximum security prison. This trend (of having art events inside prisons) was continued in November 2005 when a play was staged at another
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
n prison. When Herman Charles Bosman's ''Cold Stone Jug'' was staged at Zonderwater Prison in Cullinan, outside
Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...
, it was hailed as a world first. Never before had an audience gone to view a play, put on and acted in by prisoners, in a maximum security prison.


Ross Kemp

In the series '' Ross Kemp on Gangs'', Pollsmoor Prison was featured.


Long Walk to Freedom

In the film ''
Long Walk to Freedom ''Long Walk to Freedom'' is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel and first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, educatio ...
'' Nelson Mandela is transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison after serving 18 years on the island.


References

{{Authority control 1964 establishments in South Africa Prisons in South Africa Buildings and structures in Cape Town Nelson Mandela