Prison Journalism: From cleaner, to delivery boy, to cook
Warning: The content contained within this article features imagery which readers may find disturbing
Let me tell you the story of how I went from being a cleaner, then a delivery boy, to becoming a cook in the kitchen.
The kitchen
The kitchen is divided into four groups. The newcomers are busy washing the pots and the floor. The newcomers are two groups: there are guys that only wash the pots. The other group focuses on washing, polishing, and shining the floor.
It doesn’t mean that if you work in the kitchen, you have access to the food. There are senior cooks, ‘fat cats,’ who have been working five to ten years. Each cook has his assistant. Talking about fat cakes, the guys that have high ranks in the numbers. They send the assistant to the cook for a special plate, a “special one.”
Special units and duties
I worked both sides in the kitchen. We have a special unit. We deliver the food to the sections with special plates. To work in the kitchen, you are paid R20.00 a day. You can work at night and two days in both sides of the special unit. But the work that I enjoy most was at the office because that’s where everything happens. I’m not a lazy guy. I wake up early in the morning.
To go and work in the kitchen keeps me busy till 08:00. We will arrive at the office block at around 08:30 to start work from 08:30 until 12:00. I go on lunch, but there’s no lunch for me. I must be up and down, left and right. By this, I’m a transporter for the guys with high ranks. I must make sure that those guys get their food, obvious.
The challenges
The longer you stay in prison, the more friends you make. The more enemies you make too. I worked both sides, as I said. One day, me and OX came from our duties, and we met these three guys along the highway. They started to talk about how we were working in the kitchen but didn’t want to give them food. At first, we thought the guy was making a joke. We laughed. The guy swore at us. He started to fight like hell. Some of the wardens came to stop us. Me, OX, and Hussie kicked the hell out of them. A hungry lion is an angry lion.
Some guys can hate you for food. You know, a hungry guy can do silly things. If you are working in the prison yard, one challenge you can face is that you can meet people outside that will offer you drugs, knives, or weed.
Playing with your ticket
Some gangsters will want to fight you. At the end of the day, you are playing with your ticket. They can offer you R1000, but you must remember, for example, they get R1000. They will give you a R2000 fine or a 5-year prison sentence. If you are a number, let me say a 28, if you’ve been good to your brothers, they can get a brother of ours to come and pay the fine. But you must know that you are going to pack your bags and leave. Back to the big rooms. Those guys that you’ve been good to will support you as their brother.
A Frans can ask you to bring 50 tablets of drugs. The delivery boy can take 30, and he will take 20. One guy, out of the blue, came to me at the main gate. He asked me, “Are you Jesta?” I said, “Ja, why?” He said to me, “Do you know JB, the 28?” I said, “Ja.” He said, “Take the R1000 and take R2000.” This was off-guard. I said, “What?” The guy said, “Take the money, my friend.” I said, “You must know people are up and down.” The wardens—some come in, some are leaving. Guys that are working on the soccer field, cutting grass.
DISCLAIMER: Submission published as received
This project in collaboration with RESTORE currently works with formerly incarcerated young men in the communities.
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