As the world gets ready for the festive season, so too do those behind bars. The festive season may be the best time of the year for most; but for prisoners, it is the worst time of the year.
From the start of December to mid-January; prisons, nationally, run a program known as "Operation Vala." "Vala" literally means to close or lock. In context, it simply means that nothing but essential services occur within the prisons.
During this period, the prison bells jingle much earlier than they normally do. Prisoners are locked up by noon, instead of the usual 14:30 or even later at some facilities. This means that prisoners are locked in their cells for around 20 hours a day. Wardens thus do not even work for half a day for over a month, not that they do much anyways.
Programs that usually run within the prison come to a halt, the parole board closes, social workers and psychologists are unavailable and even the doctor and dentist do not consult during this period. Unless an inmate is suffering from a , visible, life or death condition; no treatment will be available. One has to just pray that one does not get ill or for a tooth to act up.
As many people receive bonuses at work, inmates generally receive more visits than usual during this time. Visits are one of the few things that inmates really look forward to but during this period, even visits leave a bitter taste. Many inmates only see their families from rural areas during the festive season but due to the shutdown of services, requests to receive items from home are not processed timeously; resulting in inmates being unable to receive items such as underwear, shoes or bedding from loved ones. The increase in visitors also results in the visit time being curtailed and the prison kiosk running out of stock. The prison kiosk also takes advantage of their monopoly by not getting caught up in the festive sales but instead increase their prices.
The worst part about this time of the year is not the physical changes that occur but the battles that inmates have to fight within their minds. Personally, I have always found it tough to not reminisce over the good times I have had during the holidays in the past. Speaking to family and friends, it is always nice to learn of their adventures but one cannot help but feel saddened at the same time.
To mitigate the effects of the festive season, inmates take greater risk in trying to obtain cellular phones, drugs and alcohol. This is exacerbated by the fact that wardens are looking to make extra money for their celebrations and thus bring in more contraband than usual. The really desperate wardens will bring in a phone for an inmate and then get a colleague to search the same inmate a few days later. If the phone is found, it is subsequently re-sold to another inmate.
Those without the outside support to buy illegal items come up with plans to add some merry to their festive season. Homemade beer is brewed by some inmates and then sold to others. A brew is made using water, old bread and rotting fruit. The mixture is made in buckets and left to ferment for as long as possible. Those with tailoring skills spend the extra hours in the cell by transforming prison uniforms, by hand, into more trendy styles seen in magazines. "Designer," prison uniforms are then sold for R200.00, for a set. The artistic inmates create greeting cards, gift bags, jewelry boxes, paintings and ornaments from whatever scraps they can find within the prison. Items are sold to fellow inmates who then gift the items to their visitors.
As a Muslim, this time of the year is very frustrating. Muslim and other non-Christian spiritual care workers are not allowed into the prison due to the lock-down, yet Christian inmates have more services than normal with their volunteers coming inside in greater numbers than during the course of the year. Every Friday, it is a fight with management to even get to pray jummuah. One of the things I do admire about the Christians over this time of the year is that they will arrange parcels for all of the inmates who do not receive visits.
All in all though, the festive season does signify that another year of my sentence is coming to a close. For that and the fact that I do not have to endure repetitive Christmas carols by agonizing non singing voices, I too have reason to be merry.
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