Pretoria Central Prison
Pretoria Central Prison (official name: Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre) is a large prison in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, operated by the South African Department of Correctional Services. The prison was the official site of capital punishment in South Africa during the apartheid era. Condemned prisoners were held in a section of the prison called "The Pot".[1] It further held white political prisoners, separated from black political prisoners who were held in Robben Island.
At one time, the prison gallows could hang up to 7 people at a time.[2]
Composition
The remand centre is in the front of the facility; it was often mistaken as the death row by the public. The supermax, the former actual death row, is in the centre of the facility, on the lee of a hill.[3]
Escape
In 1979 political prisoners Tim Jenkin, Alex Moumbaris and Stephen Lee escaped Pretoria Central Prison.[4]
Notable inmates
- Eugene de Kock - commanding officer of C10, a counter-insurgency unit of the South African Police which functioned as a death squad for the apartheid government.
- Denis Goldberg - anti-apartheid campaigner
- Mike Hoare - Mercenary charged with hijacking an Air India jet.
- Tim Jenkin
- Radovan Krejčíř - a Czech former billionaire and convicted criminal
- Stephen Lee
- Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
- Alex Moumbaris
- Oscar Pistorius - sentenced to five years for culpable homicide on 21 October 2014, he was released on 19 October 2015.[5] After his conviction was changed to murder in December 2015 Pistorius was sentenced to six years imprisonment on 6 July 2016, he left the prison in November 2016 after being transferred to the Atteridgeville Correction Centre.[6]
References
- ^ Robert Adams (1998). The Abuses of Punishment. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 178. ISBN 0-312-17617-1.
- ^ "Before the Hangman Arrives". Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South African Journal on Human Rights. 1989.
- ^ Ritchie, Kevin (2011-12-12). "Inside SA's factory of death". IOL. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Central Prison Amazon.com
- ^ "Pistorius released under house arrest". 20 October 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Pistorius sentenced to six years in jail". 6 July 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
External links
- List of institutions - South African Department of Correctional Services
- South Africa: Two hours in Pretoria Central United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Pretoria Central Prison raid IOL.co.za
25°45′40″S 28°10′54″E / 25.7612°S 28.1816°E
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