Imprisoned in South Africa

“I have always been interested in law and crime” says Law student Ellie, who spent her gap year at Redcliffe studying for a Certificate in Applied Theology.

Her seven-week placement in South Africa with Hope Prison Ministry built on a weekly placement helping the chaplain at Gloucester Prison.

Pollsmoor Prison in Capetown houses around 8000 prisoners, and is more than 160% overcrowded.  Gang violence is endemic in the townships, and many people are behind bars due to their involvement in gangs.

Ellie worked with unsentenced boys aged 14 – 17 years, and sentenced men 21 years+.  She said: “The boys are kept together 25 to a room and a lot of fighting and abuse goes on.  We spent time with the boys doing crafts, teaching songs and letting them know they are worth something.  Life in the townships is a struggle for survival; there is so much poverty and often the parents don’t care.  The boys just needed to be loved and told ‘someone cares about you’.”

One of the most rewarding aspects of Ellie’s placement was taking a group of men through a process called Restorative Justice.  This is a positive way of helping prisoners take responsibility for their actions and where possible to make up for what they did.  They also explore ways of stopping re-offending.

“This was so powerful,” she said.  “Instead of saying: ‘you broke the law and we’ll punish you’, we tell the prisoners ‘you’ve hurt people by what you did – not only the victim but also the community and your family’.”

“Ricardo was in prison for murder.  I sat with him as he told the mother of his victim that he realised his actions had led to the loss of her son and asked for her forgiveness.  By the end of the evening we were all in tears, and they talked together for ages.”

For Ellie, the hardest thing about the placement was leaving and she hopes to return to Pollsmoor in the future.

She was particularly challenged by the passion for Jesus that some of the prisoners had.  She said: “coming from a Christian background I can sometimes take the Gospel for granted.  The experience of God’s love is so life changing for these men, and the placement has taught me to appreciate more fully what God has done for me.”