International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 63

International Journal on Criminology
Violence may be controlled or spontaneous. For example, on January 4, 2015,
while he was assaulting a guard as part of his initiation rite in the South African prison
at Blandvlei, 181 northeast of Cape Town, a detainee was killed by other guards. 182 In
retaliation, it seems, nine guards were then attacked and injured with knives by inmates
at Darkenstein prison, 183 twenty-five miles to the west. The attackers were all members
of Number gangs, the 26s, 27s and 28s.
Violent acts occasionally serve other objectives. Prisoners have been known to
attack guards just to stay in prison. These rare incidents are not related to the activities
of prison gangs or any initiation rite, but are rather the result of the extreme poverty
in which detainees would find themselves if they left prison. For them, despite the
deprivation of liberty, the living conditions and the abuses they face, prison is the
lesser evil. 184
Violence also serves to punish. Besides the slow puncture, mentioned above,
which is a recent introduction, the Number chastise their own members in less serious
cases with a punishment previously used by prison staff, called the “carry-on.” Whoever
is at fault is made to stand, shirtless, arms raised. The punishment squad forms a circle
around him, and when one of them calls “Up” the others beat his chest with socks
containing blunt objects.
Due to its slow recovery from the operations carried out in 2006, the PCC
seems to have returned to its preferred methods, threatening or killing prison guards
to intimidate the authorities in order to gain concessions. 185 Such has been shown by
arrests made in 2007, like others before them. Three people were arrested on February
7 of that year in possession of the names and private addresses of twenty prison officers,
of whom ten worked in Presidente Bernardes prison, where Marcola, supreme leader of
the PCC is held. The suspects were members of the PCC, with a mission to assassinate
these guards in reprisal for the recent transfer of PCC leaders from a less secure prison
to the Bernardes Penitentiary Rehabilitation Center. The murders were not carried
out, those who were to commit them were arrested—no doubt the authorities were
warned by wire taps—but everything indicates that the violence persists. If the plan
had succeeded, no one, neither authorities nor the PCC itself, can imagine what the
consequences might have been.
III - PRISON GANGS: PATHOGENESIS
The pathogenesis of prison gangs has three aspects.
First, they hold the power of life and death over individuals within the closed
prison world, according to their own criteria and rules that differ depending on
the institution, the security measures in place and the country.
181
At Worcester, Cape Province.
182
IOL News, January 23, 2015.
183
At Southern Paarl, Cape Province.
184
Joseph, Norman. “Inmates Attack Warders to Stay in Prison.” Cape Argus, May 14, 2004, 8.
185
Steinberg. Nongoloza's Children, 15.
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