Special Report Transcript Episode 72, Section 5, Time 52:29

Eugene de Kock could not speak to those families because he had just been moved to a new cell at Pretoria Maximum Security Prison. Cell 63 is housed in South Africa’s new super maximum security unit, known as C Max, Closed Maximum Security Unit. Life at C Max means exactly that: confinement, enclosure and 24 hour surveillance. De Kock is locked in a single cell for 23 hours, in effect held in solitary confinement. The single cell has a wire mesh ceiling which allows warders to watch the inmates all the time. ‘Single cell 23 Hours.’ De Kock cannot speak to anybody besides warders or fellow prisoners during the one hour of daily exercise. Exercise happens in an enclosed space and even then prisoners’ conversations are monitored. De Kock will receive his visitors three times a month behind a glass wall. They will speak through an intercom system. ‘No Contact Visit’ he cannot smoke a cigarette, he will eat in his cell, he will not shave. There is no television. He can read magazines and newspapers, if the authorities think he deserves it, and every time he is taken outside his cell he will be handcuffed. Why is De Kock in C Max? Why are any of these prisoners in C Max? The man who is driving the super prison notion, which is a growing trend worldwide, Dr Khulekani Sithole, explains.

Notes: Cell 63, C Max

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