Chapter One a Concise History of South African Prisons

1 CHAPTER ONE A CONCISE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONS 1.1 INTRODUCTION Before one can begin an examination of prison literature, it is vital to have some understanding of the history of the prisons in which this writing was taking place – or in some cases, about which this writing was being generated. Andrew Sobanet remarks that the “prison is a distinct cultural modality that results in a distinct literary modality – the prison novel” (2002: 2). Because life in prison is so different from what we, as the readers of prison literature, would have experienced on the outside, the literature generated from a prison experience must be read from a different perspective too. In order to begin to understand the nature of the writing that prison-authors have produced from within this distinct “cultural modality”, a background to the South African prison system and laws under which the prison-authors were arrested and incarcerated is vital. This kind of background is essential for the reading of prison literature: it is “necessary to understand those ideas which have been nurtured by prison and to understand prison as a school for writers” (Davies 1990: 3). Of course, it must be recognized at the same time that prison-authors typically make up only a small proportion of the overall prison population. Davies says that we need to understand “the imprisoned intellectual as writing not only in a margin of the society that imprisons, but also in a margin of the prison itself” (1990: 4). This chapter should not be seen as a comprehensive overview of the history of incarceration in South Africa – a subject too vast to be covered adequately here. The chapter is, rather, a brief outline of the history of prisons in South Africa that will provide some background to the writings 2 that are at the centre of this study – prison literature. The difficulty of providing such an outline for a country like South Africa stems from the fact that much of the early history of this country was passed down through oral tradition, most of which has been lost through time. The most obvious starting point would be the arrival of the Dutch in the Cape in 1652. However, starting the study at this point does not imply that there was no form of detainment before this. 1.2 PRISONS WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA When the Dutch first occupied the Cape in 1652, a bodily type of punishment was used on offenders – public executions and crucifixions. At this point in history, imprisonment did not seem to be a priority. There were fortifications in which detainees were held before they were deported. For the Dutch, it was important to remove the criminal from society and so mass deportation occurred to Robben Island and Dutch colonies in the East. It was only during the first British Occupation (1795–1803) that physical punishment began to decline and was replaced with incarceration. Shortly after the abolition of slavery in 1807, a penal policy was introduced at the Cape. As a result of slavery being abolished, the Cape suffered from a huge shortage of labour. In order to combat this, a rudimentary pass system was introduced, and abuse against this system resulted in imprisonment. These prisoners were made to work on public projects such as the building of roads. The prison system at this time in history was used principally to provide labour. Tribes resisting colonial expansion waged war against the Cape government, and were also imprisoned. One of the most famous examples of this concerned the Khoisan group known as the /Xam, who were imprisoned due to their involvement in the Koranna wars in the middle of the nineteenth century. This type of imprisonment continued throughout the nineteenth century right up until the discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa. 3 With these discoveries came mining and mine compounds. Historians often compare the conditions of early twentieth-century South African prisons with the conditions found in the mine compounds. “One of the distinguishing features of the development of the South African prison was its similarity to another key institution in South Africa’s history, the mine compound” (http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Monographs/No29/ History.html). Compounds were used to house thousands of mineworkers and to ensure tight control over the workers, just as in the case of prisoners in actual prisons. In 1885, De Beers was the first private company to employ convicts for labour and went a step further by building a prison, which was controlled by the company. Dirk Van Zyl Smit points out that “the role of the state as the provider of unskilled black labour for the mines through the penal system had become manifest” (1992: 15). The year 1859 saw the establishment of the Breakwater Prison that housed convicts who worked on the construction of the breakwater in Table Bay. This was the first prison to introduce racial segregation. Authorities believed that blacks were less able to respond to rehabilitative programmes and would need punitive treatment longer than whites. Therefore, they argued that it was in the best interests of whites to be kept away from blacks. The original building had large dormitories that housed sixty men – one can already see the similarity between the prison and the compound. After a work strike in 1885, prison authorities were convinced that inter- racial contact caused the worst form of trouble among prisoners. In 1902 the Industrial Breakwater Prison was built to house white male convicts. Racial segregation became entrenched: “some of the black convicts of the ‘good conduct category’ learned trades in the workshops, but most were used as unskilled labour in the docks. This pattern continued in the South African prison services up until the late 20th century” (http://cybercapetown.com). After the turn of the century, imprisoned African men were still available for work, as failure to pay taxes and to produce passes was still punishable by imprisonment. The Prisons and Reformatories Act 13 of 1911 4 was introduced shortly after Union in 1910. As a result of this Act, the courts started to play a large role in the development of prison law and the treatment of prisoners within the system. Prisoners were now afforded the opportunity to ask the courts to intervene when treatment within the prisons was deemed unfair; they could also have their sentences shortened for good behaviour. Punishment within the prisons, however, was still severe. It included whippings, solitary confinement, dietary punishment and additional labour. Developments in 1945 attempted to remedy the situation. The Landsdowne Commission felt that Act 13 of 1911 was merely a means by which to continue the harsh conditions of the system that had preceded it. The Commission believed that the focus in the prisons should be on rehabilitation and not on militarization. Sadly, nothing came of these recommendations and the situation actually worsened when farmers were given permission to construct prison outstations on their farms to house prison labourers. In 1959, new prison legislation based on the policy of apartheid was introduced. Segregation was extended to include the ethnic separation of black prisoners. Giffard points out that this division into different ethnic groups was another feature shared with the mine compounds and was used to exercise control over the workers (1997: 16). Although the new legislation acknowledged the United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, it ignored crucial aspects such as the prohibition of corporal punishment, which was used to the extreme. All prisons became closed institutions in that all media coverage and outside inspections were prohibited. It is for this reason that the writing that took place in the prisons at this time is of such great importance. Up to the early 1900s, there is little record of any literature being produced in prisons. As Davies argues, “clearly we know the past only through the artifacts which have survived, and the most significant artifacts are our creative ones, notably language and the written word” (1990: 5). It is this writing 5 that provides insight into the prisons, and without it we simply do not know what conditions were like in these years. Details about prison conditions during the apartheid years are very hard to come by. “Article 44 (1)(f) of the Prisons Act (No. 8 of 1959) for many years operated as an effective legal obstacle to the publication of any information about prison conditions or the experience of imprisonment” (Gready 1993: 491). This Act also severely restricted the making and publishing of sketches, or the taking of photographs of prisons or prisoners. Prisons continued to be managed under a system of segregation and, after 1959, the militaristic approach intensified. In the early 1960s, the prisons were used to curb political unrest and “the incarceration of political detainees and sentenced political prisoners became a feature of South African prisons” (http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Monographs/No29/ History.html). This is a vital point in the context of this particular study because it is often argued that prison writing in South Africa is synonymous with political writing – an argument that will be explored later on. The conditions in these apartheid prisons were abominable, due to gross overcrowding, poor living conditions and continual cases of assault and violation of other human rights. Dirk Van Zyl Smit’s book South African Prison Law and Practice (1992) provides valuable detail on the history of imprisonment in South Africa. Former president Nelson Mandela made the following comment about his incarceration: “Prison not only robs you of your freedom, it attempts to take away your identity .

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