Prisons in South Africa

The Zonderwater Prison, Cullinan, Gauteng

Prisons in South Africa are run by the Department of Correctional Services. According to the ministry, there are approximately 34,000 employees of the department running 240 prisons.^{[citation needed]} In those prisons are nearly 156,000 inmates as of August 2013.^[1] The prisons include minimum, medium and maximum security facilities. Since 2019, the Minister of Correctional Services has been Ronald Lamola^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Notable former South African prisoners[]

During the Apartheid era, many political activists were imprisoned for campaigning against the government.^{[citation needed]} These include: ANC freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela (1962-1990), Walter Sisulu, (1963-1989), Govan Mbeki (1963-1987), Raymond Mhlaba (1963-1989), Tokyo Sexwale (1977-1990) and many others. A notable recent inmate was Annanias Mathe, a serial killer, the only person to escape from the maximum security prison C Max in Pretoria.

Notable current and former prisons in South Africa[]

Notable prisons include:

• Drakenstein Correctional Centre, formerly Victor Verster Prison near Paarl
• the Old Gaol Building in Ingwavuma
• Pollsmoor Prison (where the above prisoners served most of their sentences) in Tokai, Cape Town
• Pretoria Central Prison, now Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area. C Max is the maximum security part of this.
• Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town
• Mangaung-gevangenis [af], Bloemfontein
•  [af], Cullinan, Gauteng
• SunCity prison in the south of Johannesburg

References[]

External links[]

• Official Web site of the Department of Correctional Services

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