[imagesource:here]

I recently watched season five of the Netflix docuseries Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons, which featured one of our own, Brandvlei Correctional Centre in the Western Cape.

One of the most jarring aspects of the Brandvlei episode was how starkly it contrasted with the other prisons in the series, mostly due to the Numbers gangs and the power that they wield in the facility.

Even the wardens warn incoming prisoners that they’ll have to navigate the Numbers and keep their guard up.

That was host and journalist Raphael Rowe’s introduction to the prison. Rowe spent 12 years in jail in the UK for a murder that he didn’t commit, ans now visits some of the toughest prisons across the globe, where he stays for a week to get a feel for how they work.

Brandvlei, judging by its prominence in the trailer, clearly left an impression on him and the makers of the show:

Rowe spoke to CapeTalk about the experience, which, from the moment he entered his cell, was a harrowing one.

Within minutes, he had been threatened and his shoes were stolen.

“There is nothing staged, nothing scripted. When I walked into that cell with those guys, they had not met me before. They knew nothing about me and I knew nothing about them.

…When I walked into the cell and you saw the fear on my face, that was genuine.”

Unlike other prisons that he has visited where the gangs tend to keep things under wraps, Brandvlei prisoners were open about their affiliations.

“I didn’t expect it to be as overt as it was when I walked into that prison and into the maximum security section that I went to where everybody there had a number 26, 27 and 28 stamped on their body… I was genuinely shocked, and that’s not even getting to the point where they intimidated me when I went through initiation process.”

He says that he wasn’t there to sensationalise the Numbers, nor to degrade members of the gangs, but to get an idea of who they are.

“They have their own language and their own way of indoctrinating a prisoner into their cell, which is probably why so many prisoners end up being part of a Number gang… because unless they have the money they would have to be part of a number gang.”

By the end of his stay, he had managed to win them over and they returned his shoes.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the episode is the prisoners who genuinely want to leave the gangs, or end the violence, but feel trapped by the system that’s in place.

It’s well worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it.

I wonder what Rowe would make of a stay in Pollsmoor Prison? Perhaps that’s something to consider for a future season.

You can listen to the rest of Rowe’s interview here.

[source:capetalk]