Journalists’ first visit to Robben Island

The South African government for the first time allowed 20 local journalists, five correspondents of international news agencies and two official photographers to visit the prison on Robben Island where 370 men, convicted under security legislation, were held. On the island, 12km north east of Cape Town, political prisoners of the anti-apartheid movement were kept together with hardened criminals. Though Robben Island has been used as prison and a place where people were isolated, banished and exiled to for more than 300 years, the new maximum-security prison was established in the early 1960s. The living conditions were, particularly in the early years, extremely bad. Prisoners had to labour in the quarry, were not dressed sufficiently and had to sleep on thin straw mats on the stone floor. Through strikes and endless protests, more humane conditions were implemented in 1971, when the prisoners were also allowed to study. During this visit in 1977, material conditions were considered in general to be satisfactory, but the lack of contact with the outside world was very severe.