Prison journalism: Betrayal, Violence and the Captain's Escape

Prison journalism: Betrayal, Violence and the Captain's EscapeDavid van Nek was incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison from 2013 until 2015 and participated in the restorative justice programme.

by David van Nek

17-11-2023 17:51

in Prison Journalism

Prison yard

Image via Unsplash

Let me shock and shake you with another story. The guy who works with stealing a parole at the office; we cleaned there for months, and we know the ins and outs.

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Chaos the Captain's Quarter While I was sent to the kitchen to get Captain's food, my cellmate got a chance to steal his phone. Not long before things got complicated, Captain noticed that his phone was missing; he called all cleaners to his office. The two guys were already there; I came from the kitchen with Captain's food. I arrived, and the guys were there with three wardens. The wardens asked me, Where is the phone?' I asked, Whose phone?' Captain responded, No, leave D alone in the office.' In no time, they started to hit the hell out of the cleaners. I was saved by the bell.

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Betrayal, Pain and the Blame Game In the end, one guy started to tell the truth about Captain's phone. Now Captain said, because the other guy was in pain, he's not going to get paid. One thing for sure is that the other cleaner is going to receive his share. Now the phone was already transported to see B. How, when, and what time? As Captain J. explained that one of his friends works in the and he takes the phone to their general of 27's for money. The next thing that happened, Captain called the response team; they took the and went with him to the section to go and ask the General how was given the phone. They got out of section B; the general was already in there and said that the phone was hot, I mean stolen. The response team was there; the general gave a response by saying he didn't know how his phone; it was the guy from the kitchen who gave it to him, and he took it while the response team was there.

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Violence and the Captain's Escape They started to search the other cells in section B; the first cell they searched, they found a big bag full of weed and an amount of cash, I think it was about R 10,000 cash. The other three cells had nothing at all. Now, these guys have caused enough trouble for one day. The general was not happy at all. Luckily enough for the guy, I think all the years that Captain worked at the prison, he informed the response team that they must stay behind. I think that after the master key, they still stay behind. Because that was a few minutes; the 27's were already informed that they must hit the hell out of him. Let me say that it was maybe 5 to 10 minutes when they started to hit. This guy, the response team was there to save his life for another day. You must remember this guy is also a 27's member that they want to kill. The response team told him to pack his things because he is going to stay in the single cells. The next day, there was a special draft to Kimberley. Captain J was a very clever man; before his cellmates left, he asked them to let his family know that he is going to Northern Cape, Kimberley. He heard big trouble; he was a hero at some point but later became a zero in that prison.

ALSO READ: Prison journalism: Things that still stick with you once you're out of prison

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DISCLAIMER: Submission published as received

RESTORE is an NGO based in Cape Town, South Africa, providing inmates at Pollsmoor Prison with restorative justice opportunities.

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