Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Prison life: The daily routine of an inmate

25/05/2023

Prison life: The daily routine of an inmateFawaaz Adendorff was incarcerated at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre and participated in the restorative justice programme while in prison.

by Fawaaz Adendorff

25-05-2023 18:36

in Prison Journalism

Prison cell with inmate. Image: Pixabay

Prison life is a world on its own. Being controlled by a prison system with all the strict rules that you must follow as a prison inmate, knowing that your rights have been taken away. Never knowing if it is day or night, always wondering what the time is, and also, on the other side of your mind, you do not even want to know what the date is.

--

ALSO READ: Prison journalism: The feelings I hold for Nelson Mandela

THE CAGES Starting from the reception, which is named the cages , it is where your time starts in prison, which prisoners call a world of its own. So, in the reception, you come in handcuffed and placed in a cage with a board sign that states where you come from. It is also a place where you might find people that do not like you outside. Two wardens will collect you at the cage for fingerprints and to register you into the prison system.

From there, on your way to where you do your fingerprints, you hear different voices in the reception-strange languages and looks. The prison has a different type of smell. It is not a normal smell because, with the combination of the cleaning chemicals and tobacco smells, it is strong and also has an impact on your well-being as a newcomer, feeling nervous and scared, thinking about ways to escape or to make the wardens let you go. At that moment, you feel willing to do anything just to get out.

--

From staying in the cages for a few hours where you did your fingerprints and also meeting with people from your neighborhood and all-around Cape Town, like different types of gangs and backgrounds, it is just so scary and it feels unreal, knowing you're not going home soon and facing the unexpected. From the cages, the wardens open the gates of the cages one by one, calling you by name, surname, and jail number.

ALSO READ: Prison journalism: How to endure the winters of a life sentence

From there, the wardens then ask you to form one straight line on your knees with hands on your head. Once all the names are called out and all the inmates are present, sitting in one straight line, we are asked to stand up and follow the warden to a room where they undergo a body search before entering the courtroom section.

--

It is a building with four big rooms and two small rooms for the warden's office and storeroom. The four big rooms are for the inmates that are split into two different groups. One group is called the ouens [gang members] and the other group is called the fraanse [non-gang members]. The two groups are being identified by the wardens for their prison gang/number and are placed in different rooms because the two groups cannot be together.

Normally, bad things happen to the fraanse in the ouens room, like rape, robbery, abuse and more. After you are placed in a room, the wardens then bring two or more inmates called the gang boys [aisle cleaners and assistants], helping wardens serve food to inmates and keep the prison section clean as part of their job description.

ALSO READ: Prison journalism: Programming in Pennsylvania prisons gave this lifer purpose

THE DAILY ROUTINE In the morning, we wake up at 5:30, go to the bathroom, and clean ourselves. Then, from there, each group has a duty to clean the toilet or the room. The groups get a week to clean, and that is how the duties rotate. When everything is done, the groups then prepare for inspection.

After inspection, it should be 7:00. That is when the wardens and their inmate assistants, which the other inmates call gang boys , are also locked up in similar setups like the normal cells, with a double gate, and a very thick metal door.

So, as the wardens are at the inmates' hostel, only one room at a time is served with the porridge. It depends entirely on the room's behaviour how cold or hot their breakfast is and on the scale of food you will get. So now you must know, sometimes it is impalla pap porridge with one small spoon of brown sugar, served together with tea with no milk and sugar. The same goes when it is matabela porridge. Sometimes the prison serves Jungle Oats, one vienna (sausage), and some days you will get one vienna and two slices of bread. And every Tuesday, two boiled eggs and two slices of bread are also served with tea with no taste.

ALSO READ: Prison stories: A day in the life of a Pollsmoor inmate

For me, there is no favourite food because they use the same spice for all the meals they serve to the inmates. In the juvenile centre section A, the wardens dish out most of the meats for themselves and take them home with them. There are two meals per day: breakfast is served in the morning at 8:00, then locked up again until our next meal. We will be lucky if we get an hour of exercise, depending on the prison vibe and weather.

Our breakfast is sometimes served with boiled eggs and three slices of bread and tea without sugar. Then we wait until 12:00 to get our last meal, which is sometimes chicken, beef. Sometimes white, sometimes spicy yellow. But all the meals that are served are in very small portions like we would get a bone with a piece of meat with little gravy, and it does not taste good.

ALSO READ: Prison Journalism: The power of hope: crimes don't change, but people do

When the inmates are served their food, they must bring their plastic cups and the laptop bucket the food is dished in, and that is the rotation with the four rooms on the hostel. If the dishing is done, the inmates are once again locked up behind thick metal gates and are ordered to eat by their bedside. When the inmates are done eating, they will get exercise
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/prison-journalism/exclusive-pr...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

10/08/2026

Apple to Bring Friday Night Baseball' Live to Apple Immersive on Vision Pro Beginning Aug. 28

Weekly immersive broadcasts will feature 8K 3D video, a 180-degree field of view...

10/08/2026

Raiju from fedDSP

Saturation plug-in free until 20 August 2026 fedDSP have announced the launch of Raiju, a new guitar pedal-style saturation plug-in that's capable of de...

10/08/2026

I/O Music release Talkback

New mix-comparison & feedback tool Independent Swedish record label I/O Music have recently released a handy new tool that provides artists, engineers, prod...

10/08/2026

Sound Radix launch Radical1 Solo

Additive soft synth gains free counterpart Sound Radix have just released a free monophonic additive software synth that's based on the same engine as t...

10/08/2026

Chroma integrates MXO oscilloscopes into ATS 8000 platform, rounding out its high-end power testing ecosystem

Chroma integrates MXO oscilloscopes into ATS 8000 platform, rounding out its hig...

10/08/2026

Former NAB Tech Exec Tom Keller Has Died

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

Matthews Bows Monitor Stand III

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

AES Elects David v.R. Bowles as President-Elect for 2027

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

NUGEN Audio Helps SFCM Students Achieve Professional Mixe...

Students in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) gain rare, real world experience in professio...

10/08/2026

FOR-A demonstrates new and practical solutions to real ch...

FOR-A is using its presence at IBC2026 (stand 2.B53, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) to show how its products deliver the answers to the real challenges faced...

10/08/2026

Frontier EU brings broadcast-grade network resilience to...

Frontier EU, official Peplink distributor for Europe, will exhibit at IBC 2026 in Amsterdam from 11 to 14 September, presenting live demonstrations of how Pepli...

10/08/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage Premiere Pro

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage Premiere Pro Michael Cioni August 10, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup...

10/08/2026

Stunning Pixelated ASCII Effect for Apple Motion

Stunning Pixelated ASCII Effect for Apple Motion Simon Ubsdell August 10, 2026 0 Comments Apple Motion is perfect for building this popular ASCII unic...

10/08/2026

New York Jets, CBS New York Extend Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

Welcome to the Show: Sky Creative unites football fans with start of season campaign

Monday 10 August 2026 Welcome to the Show : Sky Creative unites football fans w...

10/08/2026

Red Seat Ventures' Speakeasy Brings Video to Apple Podcasts, Beginning with Surrounded

Red Seat Ventures' Speakeasy Brings Video to Apple Podcasts, Beginning with ...

10/08/2026

30% More Pumping Hours With Autonomous Frac Operations

A major unconventional operator increased monthly pumping hours by more than 30% by automating critical frac completion processes and eliminating common sources...

10/08/2026

Apple, MLB announce September \u201CFriday Night Baseball\u201D schedule - UPDATE - Posted on 10 August 2026

Today, Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) unveiled the September schedule for...

09/08/2026

reFX introduce Rippler

Combines physical modelling with subtractive synthesis reFX, the company behind the popular Nexus and Vanguard2 soft synths have announced the launch of the...

09/08/2026

Dreamtonics tease upcoming release

Human nuance is not a switch Dreamtonics have built up a solid reputation off the back of their Synthesizer V Studio software, a powerful vocal-synthesis t...

09/08/2026

COW Jobs: Documentary Editor - Remote

COW Jobs: Documentary Editor - Remote Brie Clayton August 9, 2026 0 Comments Documentary Editor July 31, 2026COW Jobs: Lead Generation Representativ...

08/08/2026

IK Multimedia launch Tonex 2.0 beta

Enhanced ToneNET integration & 220 new Premium V2 Tone Models IK Multimedia have just launched a public beta of Tonex 2.0, a release which is said to repres...

08/08/2026

Roland celebrate 808 Day

Honouring the drum machine that redefined modern music Roland have announced their plans for this year's 808 Day, a day that was founded to celebrate th...

08/08/2026

Call for Entries Now Open for the 20th Annual South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTAs20)

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

08/08/2026

Star Wars Hyperspeed Tutorial: The No-Echo Method in After Effects

Star Wars Hyperspeed Tutorial: The No-Echo Method in After Effects Graham Quince August 8, 2026 0 Comments The Echo Effect to create long streaks is n...

08/08/2026

Chyron Releases AXIS 4.0 With Expanded News Workflows and Richer Map Storytelling

Chyron Releases AXIS 4.0 With Expanded News Workflows and Richer Map Storytellin...

08/08/2026

Nielsen to Acquire DoubleVerify for $2.15 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

FCC Chair Carr Announces New Legal Advisor

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

Trump Nominates Danielle Thumann Severs to FCC Commission Seat

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

New York Jets, CBS New York Extends Deal with New York Jets

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

Foundry Unlocks Professional-Grade AI for VFX with Griptape Enterprise; Appoints Kyle Roche as Chief AI Officer

Foundry Unlocks Professional-Grade AI for VFX with Griptape Enterprise; Appoints...

08/08/2026

Award Winning New Horror Film Shot Using Blackmagic Camera App

Award Winning New Horror Film Shot Using Blackmagic Camera App Brie Clayton August 7, 2026 0 Comments Fire Alive, shot using the Blackmagic Camera i...

08/08/2026

Firebird Launches CIS Region's Largest AI Factory in Armenia

The global buildout of AI infrastructure reached a new milestone today - Firebird, an emerging AI cloud, launched the CIS region's largest AI factory in Arm...

07/08/2026

Diversified Appoints Pete Emminger as Global Chief Technology Officer

Diversified has appointed industry veteran Pete Emminger as global chief technology officer. Emminger will lead the company's global go-to-market technology...

07/08/2026

Release Rundown: What to Watch in August, From American Doctor to Idiots

O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dave Franco, and Mason Thames appear in Idiots by Macon Blair, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of ...

07/08/2026

Sonuscore release The Sculpture

An instrument made for the adventurous composer Described as an instrument made for the adventurous composer , Sonuscore's latest sample library has b...

07/08/2026

Synchron Solo Violin 2 & Viola (sordino) join VSL line-up

Latest solo Synchron libraries arrive VSL have just released the final two instalments in their range of muted solo string libraries. Recorded in the large ...

07/08/2026

GC Audio's new Producer Channel

Channel strip offers plug-in control & recall Along with some new additions to their Inherit modular preamp system, GC Audio's announcements for NAMM 20...

07/08/2026

Opening Statement: Public hearing of the Inquiry into Racism, Hate and Violence Directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Opening Statement: Public hearing of the Inquiry into Racism, Hate and Violence ...

07/08/2026

Nielsen to Acquire DoubleVerify, Creating a Leading, Independent Media Intelligence Platform

DoubleVerify Shareholders to Receive $13.60 Per Share in Cash, Representing a 30...

07/08/2026

Lawo To Highlight Dynamic Media Facility Support At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

MediaKind To Feature Unified Product Portfolio At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

ACT Entertainment Honored with Neutrik Group Americas Par...

The Award Recognizes ACT's Outstanding Sales Performance, Marketing Collaboration and Long-standing Commitment to the NEUTRIK Brand ACT Entertainment, one ...

07/08/2026

Beamr Brings NVIDIA Video Super Resolution to Live Sports...

Beamr Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: BMR), a leader in video optimization technology and solutions, today announced it is bringing AI upscaling to live sports, broadcast...

07/08/2026

Berklee City Music Presents Nine Scholarships and Awards at Annual Concert

Berklee City Music Presents Nine Scholarships and Awards at Annual Concert Student recipients from seven states and Canada received scholarships, housing awar...

07/08/2026

Lawo To Highlights Dynamic Media Facility Support At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

Kevin Trueblood to Return as SBE President

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...