ROSS KEMP ON GANGS: CAPE TOWN 3 OF 3
ROSS KEMP ON GANGS: CAPE TOWN 3 OF 3
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ROSS KEMP ON GANGS: CAPE TOWN PART 3 OF 3
SEASON 2: EPISODE 2
-Gangsterism inside Pollsmoor-
Gangsterism is a potent feature of Pollsmoor Prison life, and gangs are segregated into three separate sections on a single floor, accommodating a total of between 500 and 750. This segregation is in part an attempt to limit the gangs' ongoing recruitment of new members from amongst the recent arrivals. Due to the fact that warders are present in the sections for less than two-thirds of the day, the gangs are enormously powerful in the communal cells. Gang rule involves extreme violence, including sexual violence.
The various gangs are called "The Numbers" (there are the 26's, the 27s and the 28s gangs) and are so powerful that they lock their members into the gang for life. They tattoo their ranks on their bodies, even their faces so that even outside prison their status is clear. Many members are so tied in to gang culture that life outside is unthinkable, and would rather confess to a crime they didn't commit, than be free men walking the streets.
The overwhelming majority of prisoners are from depressed communities on the Cape Flats, where there is large-scale unemployment, a lack of educational and other facilities, homelessness and gangsterism. As a predominantly awaiting-trial institution, there are few resources at Pollsmoor for prisoner programmes, other than visits by independent religious caregivers and non-governmental organizations. Inmates spend nearly all day in their overcrowded cells, and spend only one hour a day having outdoor exercise in enclosed courtyards. Little exercise occurs during this hour, since gang leaders utilize this time to communicate with prisoners in other cells, exchange drugs, mete out punishment to those in other cells etc.
Any such that dare to exercise are being called to "attention" before a gang leader, and may face punishment.