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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE July 12, 2005
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| November 22, 2004 |
Cape Town, South Africa – “The change begins with you” - Pollsmoor Prison rehabilitation programme |
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| The surroundings of Pollsmoor Prison |
Pollsmoor Prison is a maximum security jail. Located in Constantiaberg, 25km from Cape Town, nestled beneath the eastern flank of Table Mountain, the maximum security prison is renowned for having housed South Africa’s most famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela, for seven of his 27 years of his imprisonment. On any given day over 6,000 prisoners are incarcerated here, stretching the facilities capacity to more than twice the amount that it was originally built for back in 1964. In close proximity to Cape Town’s ghettos, it is the pulse of illicit activity, where most of the city’s suspected criminals await trial. Overcrowding, violence and gangsterism are huge problems within the prison. Problems that volunteers Julian and Johanna Thomas are fighting to improve with their conflict resolution programme. They took 40 Peace Boat participants on a one day journey through Pollsmoor prison, to hear the testimonies of unsentenced inmates, convicted criminals and reformed ex-gang leaders and other prisoners of Pollsmoor. |
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| Julian Thomas in a conflict resolution workshop onboard the Peace Boat |
Julian Thomas is a man of compassion and integrity who, along with his wife Johanna, has spent the past four years delving into the psyche of Pollsmoor Prison gang members, which make up 95 percent of the inmate population. He joined Peace Boat, as a guest speaker from Kenya to South Africa, not only to explain his work but also to give the people onboard skills to resolve their own conflicts. In his workshops he creates an environment where expression, trust, listening skills, respect and empathy are the pivotal factors for implementing change. Over a period of time both he and Johanna built up a relationship with the inmates of Pollsmoor Prison, who, in turn, built up a non-violent and non-threatening understanding with each other. Their workshops have broken down barriers between rival gang members, allowed prisoners the chance to cry and helped them to take responsibility and control of their own lives. This has transformed prisoners’ lives in ways they never thought possible. However learning to gain inmates’ trust and infiltrate the desire for personal change and empowerment are the biggest challenges Julian and Johanna face. |
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| Peace Boat participants working with young inmates on simple conflict-related exercises |
The majority of Pollsmoor’s prisoners are from severely depressed communities on the Cape Flats, where predominantly blacks and coloureds were forced to move during the Apartheid Group Areas Act implemented in the 1950s. Unemployment, homelessness, drug abuse and gangs are part of the daily life in these ghettos. When Peace Boat participants visited Medium A section of Pollsmoor Prison (housing inmates 17-21 years old) they were opened up to the idea that prisoners can simply be victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once incarcerated they become members of a gang out of the necessity for protection and it is there that they learn how to become criminals, get addicted to drugs and contract sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, these suspected criminals are battling against a system, which is allowed to keep them in jail for as long as three years while awaiting trial. This is more than enough time to become enslaved to the rules of the prison gangs they belong to and to automatically be an integral member of the same gang on the outside. This vicious cycle of crime and punishment is very hard for the prisoners to break. The rate of recidivism is between 70% - 80%. |
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| Prison employees were frank in talking about the difficulties of dealing with deep gang culture while being under funded and staffed |
Peace Boat participants were greeted at Pollsmoor Prison by wardens, security officers and the community liaison officer, Peter Destadler. Participants learned of three main gangs in the prison - the 26s, 27s and 28s. Each gang has its own language, set of rules, judicial system and hierarchy, which come into operation after lock up and serve as the unspoken, illicit authority of the prison. These gangs are the prison’s biggest problem. However, Peace Boat participants’ attention was soon distracted by the arrival of 16 prison inmates, currently on the conflict resolution programme with Julian, who came to welcome Peace Boat to Pollsmoor. 19 year-old Peter, representing the youth, gave an eloquently written, heart-warming speech of gratitude to Peace Boat for casting aside their judgements and taking the time to visit them during their short stay in Cape Town. |
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| Young inmates anxiously and warmly greeted the rare visitors |
Participants mingled with the imprisoned youths in a relaxed way and bonds were formed from the icebreaking activities and a question and answer session. The prisoners then led Peace Boat participants out of the “mutual territory” conference room and took them to the nerve center of their day-to-day existence – the cell. Situated in Section C, there are four cells, with around 60 inmates per cell. We were ushered into room four, where the stale, urine-stained, bare mattresses on springs serve as bunk beds – the 26s on the right, 28s on the left and the 27s down the middle. It was at this point that people began to see the duality of the situation. That the friendly people they had been comfortably chatting with struggle to survive a daily existence of squalor and gang violence. It was a difficult paradox for some people to deal with and witnessing part of their inhumane prison-life brought home how difficult it must be for them to regain a connection with their own emotions. “We want them to see that they are more than just a number. That they are real people” stated Julian. As participants said their goodbyes, it seemed they were able to really relate to this comment. |
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| Visiting Mandela’s cell of seven years, now used as a classroom where inmates can reflect on the history within the bars here |
After visiting the former cell of Nelson Mandela, a place Johanna brings inmates as a reward for completing the ten-day conflict resolution course, participants left Pollsmoor to spend some time at the top of Signal Hill in the centre of Cape Town. It was there that four ex-inmates of Pollsmoor Prison told their stories and the change that the rehabilitation process has brought to their lives. Joseph, Mohammed, Ralph and Magadien, all former gang leaders, spoke about the atrocities committed in the prison they call “the school of criminal knowledge.” Rape, sodomy, murder, mutilation and other violence was part of their world on the inside as well as outside, violence dictated by the intricate gang culture they were a part of.
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| Mogamat Benjamin (left) |
They talked about the workshops delving deep into their childhood. They each spoke about realising that their reactions to conflict were violent for reasons they had never thought of and that they began to see more peaceful, spiritual ways of dealing with conflict. “It made me see that I could really feel love and compassion” said Ralph. “The whole thing made me look at life with a set of values and beliefs. I had never even had values on life. In the cape Flats they just don’t exist” stated Magadien, whose biography “The Number” was released for sale two weeks ago. However it was Mohammed’s statement that really struck a chord with a captivated Peace Boat audience: “When those reform people first came to the prison, I ordered all the guys in my gang to sharpen their tools so that they could stab, strangle and murder them when they stepped into our cells. I thought they were from the old regime. We all thought they were trying to trick us but we were wrong. So very wrong. And now I am out of prison and have been clean for three years. It’s a lot after spending 37 years behind bars but now I live in repentance for my past and am trying to rebuild my relationship with my family who have suffered so much from my actions. Positivity breeds positivity. Love breeds love. But most of all I realise that this change can only come from me and noone else”. |
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| Magadien Wentzel |
The intensity of the day’s emotions deeply moved Peace Boat participants who, back onboard, felt a strong necessity to discuss and evaluate the impact it had on their lives and ways of thinking. “Believing that reform is possible and seeing it with your own eyes are two different things. I never thought I could have lunch with a murderer and rapist and enjoy his company and truly believe from the look in his eyes that he was a man of compassion and faith. Today has taken my logic, my intuition and my judgements, torn them into shreds and thrown them out into the wind”
“……gang members and inmates (who) want to change their lives and are caught in the myth that tells them that to change is to die. Change isn’t about dying, it is about what you want for the future. A future in prison or in a gang has no benefits, no pension and no medical aid; all it has is pain and suffering. Wake up, and take charge of your lives and all the responsibilities that await you. Change is possible. Change begins with you” Magadien Wentzel. |
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For more information about the conflict resolution programme, please write to:
Julian Thomas
Pollsmoor Prison
Medium A
Section C
Tokai
7966
South Africa |
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