Keltria
12-08-2004, 10:27 AM
One of the most common complaints raised by prisoners is about the food. At Westville Medium B, inmates are fed twice a day. At breakfast, they receive porridge with one teaspoon of sugar, two slices of bread and tea. In mid-afternoon, they receive their only other meal of the day and are then locked up until the following morning. The mid-afternoon meal normally consists of samp, mielie pap, or minced fish which still contains bones and is more reminiscent of cat food than of anything fit for human consumption. This meal is accompanied by five slices of bread, and no butter or condiments of any kind are provided. The kitchen at WMB is in need of new equipment; in order to prepare breakfast the outmoded ovens must start cooking at 3 a.m. Meals are often served cold, and might not even be cooked at all. A former prisoner explained that dinner would sometimes be raw porridge; simply the powdered mielie meal mixed with water.
More than one staff member at the Westville Medium B prison cited the incidence of smuggling and theft in the prison kitchen, by both prisoners and staff alike, as a primary cause for the lack of decent meals. The problem is not even alleviated by those prisoners lucky enough to receive visitors who wish to bring them food. Many of these items are confiscated or disallowed because of the risk of containing contraband. Even fresh fruit and vegetables are not permitted, as these could potentially be injected with drugs. Limiting access to such things as fruits and vegetables or other much desired foods increases demand, and thus the profit to be had from selling these items inside the prison increases, creating additional incentive to steal and smuggle. The resulting restricted access to adequate nutrition has an impact on health concerns of all kinds. In particular, prisoners living with HIV are affected because proper nutrition and vitamins may postpone the development of HIV into AIDS.
Gangs in prisons
The power of the 26s and 28s gangs inside South African prisons pervades nearly every issue related to HIV/AIDS in prison. Many high risk behaviours are directly related to gang activity. Membership in both gangs frequently includes tattooing, and it is not uncommon for more than one inmate to be tattooed at a time using the same needle. Violence between prisoners which leads to bleeding is also a product of gang activity. Prisoners may be required to attack another prisoner and draw blood in order to be initiated into a gang. For members of the 26s, the practice of stabbing another person, usually a non-gang member, is referred to as phakama and allows the gang member to move up in rank depending on the severity of the attack and the situation of the person who is attacked.
While the 26s engage in stabbings, the primary activity of the 28s is sex and prostitution. In 1906, the 28s gang began to take shape as two loosely connected associations, one inside prison and the other in the mining compounds. Both structures warehoused young men away from their families with minimal opportunities for diversion or normal social interaction. When the gang leader, Nongoloza, was imprisoned in 1908 he consolidated his criminal empire from his prison base in Pretoria. The prison environment, then and now, provides the ideal location to recruit new members and train them in the tight discipline necessary to maintain gang hierarchical structures. Although stories vary about the split of the 27s from the 28s, one reason given is the 27s’ refusal to accept the custom of homosexuality which had become an accepted feature of Nongoloza’s gang by that stage.
The 28s’ hierarchy consists of two lines: one is the ‘men’ and the other is their ‘wives’. The men do the fighting and protecting, and the wives are the sexual partners of the fighters, or ‘men’. In addition to being the receptive sexual partner, the wives perform many traditionally considered feminine roles, including washing and other domestic chores. Although the 26s and 27s may claim to eschew homosexual activity, and are reportedly forbidden by the gang’s official code from taking a wife, staff at Westville Medium B noted that homosexual activity has become common amongst all gangsters. When asked about the impact of the 28s gang on the incidence of sexual activity at Westville, one interviewee responded that the 26s are also taking ‘wives’ even though they claim it is something only the 28s do.
According to one former prisoner, prison wardens are also involved in gang activities, and gang members will actively recruit prison wardens as a means of increasing their power. For example, if a member of the 28s wishes to obtain a specific prisoner as a wife, he may be able to gain the complicity of a warden in transferring the targeted prisoner to the gangster’s own cell. The former prisoner claimed that the wardens are also known to not only facilitate but also engage in sexual activities as part of their membership in a gang. The wardens involvement with either the 26s or 28s can also extend to the smuggling in of food, weapons, cigarettes, drugs, and other items as well as the prostitution of juveniles to other prisoners.
More than one staff member at the Westville Medium B prison cited the incidence of smuggling and theft in the prison kitchen, by both prisoners and staff alike, as a primary cause for the lack of decent meals. The problem is not even alleviated by those prisoners lucky enough to receive visitors who wish to bring them food. Many of these items are confiscated or disallowed because of the risk of containing contraband. Even fresh fruit and vegetables are not permitted, as these could potentially be injected with drugs. Limiting access to such things as fruits and vegetables or other much desired foods increases demand, and thus the profit to be had from selling these items inside the prison increases, creating additional incentive to steal and smuggle. The resulting restricted access to adequate nutrition has an impact on health concerns of all kinds. In particular, prisoners living with HIV are affected because proper nutrition and vitamins may postpone the development of HIV into AIDS.
Gangs in prisons
The power of the 26s and 28s gangs inside South African prisons pervades nearly every issue related to HIV/AIDS in prison. Many high risk behaviours are directly related to gang activity. Membership in both gangs frequently includes tattooing, and it is not uncommon for more than one inmate to be tattooed at a time using the same needle. Violence between prisoners which leads to bleeding is also a product of gang activity. Prisoners may be required to attack another prisoner and draw blood in order to be initiated into a gang. For members of the 26s, the practice of stabbing another person, usually a non-gang member, is referred to as phakama and allows the gang member to move up in rank depending on the severity of the attack and the situation of the person who is attacked.
While the 26s engage in stabbings, the primary activity of the 28s is sex and prostitution. In 1906, the 28s gang began to take shape as two loosely connected associations, one inside prison and the other in the mining compounds. Both structures warehoused young men away from their families with minimal opportunities for diversion or normal social interaction. When the gang leader, Nongoloza, was imprisoned in 1908 he consolidated his criminal empire from his prison base in Pretoria. The prison environment, then and now, provides the ideal location to recruit new members and train them in the tight discipline necessary to maintain gang hierarchical structures. Although stories vary about the split of the 27s from the 28s, one reason given is the 27s’ refusal to accept the custom of homosexuality which had become an accepted feature of Nongoloza’s gang by that stage.
The 28s’ hierarchy consists of two lines: one is the ‘men’ and the other is their ‘wives’. The men do the fighting and protecting, and the wives are the sexual partners of the fighters, or ‘men’. In addition to being the receptive sexual partner, the wives perform many traditionally considered feminine roles, including washing and other domestic chores. Although the 26s and 27s may claim to eschew homosexual activity, and are reportedly forbidden by the gang’s official code from taking a wife, staff at Westville Medium B noted that homosexual activity has become common amongst all gangsters. When asked about the impact of the 28s gang on the incidence of sexual activity at Westville, one interviewee responded that the 26s are also taking ‘wives’ even though they claim it is something only the 28s do.
According to one former prisoner, prison wardens are also involved in gang activities, and gang members will actively recruit prison wardens as a means of increasing their power. For example, if a member of the 28s wishes to obtain a specific prisoner as a wife, he may be able to gain the complicity of a warden in transferring the targeted prisoner to the gangster’s own cell. The former prisoner claimed that the wardens are also known to not only facilitate but also engage in sexual activities as part of their membership in a gang. The wardens involvement with either the 26s or 28s can also extend to the smuggling in of food, weapons, cigarettes, drugs, and other items as well as the prostitution of juveniles to other prisoners.