Inside Namibia's jails

When an awaiting-trial prisoner or sentenced inmate disappears into the bowels of the Namibian prison system, what happens in the dark and dingy cells has for decades remained a mystery. However, over the years there have been rays of light shone into these dark places to reveal a world of prison gangs, forced sex and shocking violence. This is a world with its own language, rites and oral traditions. Any person entering the prison system is assigned their position in the jail hierarchy based on their intimidate knowledge of number gangs and how far they have risen through the ranks. It is a fact that the so-called number gangs, made infamous by stories from South African jails, do operate in Namibian jails. It then goes without saying that sexual relationships between prisoners - as advocated by prison gangs - are also happening here. Namibian prisons Perhaps the frightening glimpse into Namibian prison life came in Judge Gerhard Maritz's judgement in a case where prisoners were suing the State for being beaten up in prison gang violence. In the judgment delivered in 2008, Maritz said: “Sadly, the harsh realities of life in the captive environment of prisons too often produce a different result. This is especially true in correctional facilities where the pervasive subculture of prison gangs lures prisoners under the guise of 'protection' even further into the darker reaches of criminal conduct - often violent, as the disturbing facts of this case evidence." He also mentions by name the 26s, 27s and 28s prison gangs, who between them dominate most prisons both in Namibia and South Africa. A former prisoner who spoke to Namibian Sun on condition of anonymity said: “The gangs in prison organise and group themselves according to the common purpose they share. There are different gangs in prison who do different things. Some group themselves according to the crimes they committed, like rapists, murderers, those who stole money and so forth. They are indentified by the tattoos they have on their bodies.” Initiation The former prisoner said when a new inmate is brought in prison, “the gangs tell him what they stand for and he is manipulated into becoming part of them”. He added that once a new inmate agrees to join a certain gang, he is branded with a tattoo as a sign of membership. “Each gang has its own tattoo. This is not like outside were you just get tattoos without knowing what they mean. If you get into prison with a tattoo of a certain gang, they ask you if you know what it means. If you know, then you join them, but if you don't they will manipulate you into joining them,” he said. According to him, the gangs will not necessarily use force to make an inmate join a gang but will resort to violence if the inmate wants to leave the gang. “Once you have that tattoo there is no getting out. You can only get out if you're released from prison or the gang members themselves allow you to leave the gang.” Gang fights He said gang fights are common behind bars, as the different ideologies and aims of each gang clash. “For example there are those who are against sodomy and those who prefer sodomy. You might find someone from the sodomy group proposing someone from the enemy group. And that person will go back to the gang and tell them what happened and ask them to stab the guy who proposed him. And he will be stabbed. Sodomy in prison happens every day, I won't deny that. It is a common thing.” He said there are no big or small gangs; it is more about what code they follow. In an article written for South Africa's Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Jonny Steinberg - who later went on to write the widely acclaimed book on prison gangs called 'The Number' - describes immense cruelty within prison walls. He writes: “We know, too, that the world of the number gangs is one of staggering brutality. Its self-styled judiciaries sentence inmates to death, to gang rape, to beatings with prison mugs, padlocks and bars of soap, among the prerequisites of joining the 'soldier lines' of the gangs is the taking of a warder's or a non-gangster's blood; leaving a prison gang, sharing a gang's secrets with a warder, or talking casually about the gang's workings to the non-initiated are all punishable crimes.” He said that number gangs take their inspiration from the historical figure who founded them, Nongoloza Mathebula, an early Johannesburg bandit who built a quasi-military band of outlaws, welding his small army together with a simple but potent ideology of banditry as anti-colonial resistance. Number gangs in South Africa and Namibia have been the vehicle of an extraordinarily durable oral tradition. The imaginary uniforms, weapons and paraphernalia that number gangsters carry today are all faithful representations of the uniforms, weapons and paraphernalia of the Boer and British armies of the late 19th-century Transvaal. Sex in prison About sexual relationships between prisoners, Steinberg said it is all about power relationships in prison and your membership or ranking within the gang structure. “The passive partner in an archetypal prison relationship is stripped of the jail equivalent of his juridical personhood: he is not allowed to conduct commerce or to leave the cell without his partner's permission; he cooks for his partner, makes his bed, washes his back and cuts his toenails.” Many believe that it is only the 28s that practice sex between men, but this is a myth. All prison gangs have over the years adapted to this way of life. It may take place as a punishment in the form of gang rape or simply because you do not belong to a gang. Evidence of the ritualised way in which prison sex happens is how new prisoners are approached to become so-called 'sex sons'. Often it happens with a simple question. For example, a fellow prisoner may ask you the following: “It is raining. You are standing under an umbrella. I say to you, I am getting wet. I may get sick. What are you going to do?” If you answer that you will invite him to share your umbrella, this means you are inviting him to your bed. If you answer “I will come out into the rain with you”, this means that you can be recruited to become part of the gang. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA