01/27/2025
Edit ✍🏾 : It’s important to question what makes a “criminal” especially in this instance under the rules of Apartheid. A criminal could have easily been any of us, living and existing as a contributing member of our society.
During my time in Johannesburg, I visited the Old Fort Prison complex, nicknamed “Number Four” by South Africans mispronouncing “Fort.” Operating from 1902 to 1983, it primarily incarcerated black men under apartheid. Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and systemic racial discrimination defined life there. Black prisoners endured the worst treatment, surviving on rotten food rations that caused outbreaks of diseases like Typhoid and Enteric Fever. Facilities were deplorable—lice-infested blankets, exposed toilets near sleeping and eating areas, and plates cleaned only every three months compounded the humiliation. The isolation cells were even worse, where prisoners survived on rice water and dirty water. Many were tortured to death in these cells, with families being falsely told they had escaped, despite the 14-foot walls and barbed wire canopy that made such claims absurd. Showers were scarce, with just eight for over 2,000 inmates, giving them 30 minutes collectively to bathe.
The degrading practice of “tausa” forced naked prisoners to perform humiliating exercises for invasive “inspections”. Brutality from guards and the dominance of gang systems controlled every aspect of prison life, including access to necessities. Rare creative outlets, like sculpting bedding to compete for better rations, offered minimal relief but came with conditions.
Number Four housed both common criminals and political prisoners, including Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Sobukwe, and participants in the 1976 Soweto uprising. Today, it is part of the Constitution Hill museum, a reminder of apartheid’s brutality and a testament to the resilience of those who endured it.
