By Abbey Makoe
A prison rehabilitation programme that aims to bring down the rate of crime by a large percentage within a year of being implemented is in sight of its goal.
Read-u-cate, a non-profit organisation, aims to teach the bulk of the functionally illiterate inmates to read and write English.
Edna Freinkel, the founder and trustee of Read-u-cate, described the programme as "intensively face-to-face". It aims at teaching students with distance education and refresher courses. "The pupils write examinations which result in the issuing of recognised certificates".
At Johannesburg prison, inmates have scrambled to be enrolled in the programme and some have learnt to write their names.
The first batch of learners in the programme were also trained to teach the others.
Speaking about the class he now teaches, an elated Gerry Matlou, one of the first graduates, said: "Everybody is enthusiastic. Some of the guys can now write their names and one wonders if they would have been sentenced to so many years had they just been able to write their names."
Matlou, wearing a white T-shirt with the words: "Real men do not abuse women and children", said he wanted to be a role model for the other inmates.
"Right now, I'm doing electrical technology with Unisa," he said. "You've got to do something positive while doing time here. Prison life can be unbearable if you sit on your brains."
Another of the prison teachers, Suzanne de Souza, said: "Undergoing training to become a teacher of Read-u-cate has brought back my confidence. I don't want to walk out of here with nothing except the stigma of being called a criminal."
Robert Stamenkov, another newly graduated inmate who is also a Read-u-cate teacher, said: "Idle minds are a devil's workshop. Sooner or later, we'll all be released and it is for that reason that we ought to use our time properly.
"Read-u-cate has exposed my limited knowledge of English and I'm learning every day.
"I just wish that the prison authorities can put all those involved in education one way or the other in the same section and not be mixed with gangsters or others who are not studying."
Russel Mamabolo, speaking for the department of correctional services, said they were looking into the matter and plans to separate the learning prisoners from non-learning inmates already were being implemented in the female section of Johannesburg prison.
Mamabolo said: "It is so pleasing to see prisoners mending their ways. Correctional services means just that - to correct the ways of doing things. Statistics show that when inmates leave prison with some skill, nine out of 10 times they do not commit crime again."
Other prisoners on the programme agreed that a "lock them inside and throw the key away" philosophy did not work.
"That's basically creating a time bomb," said Maxwell Ndlovu, who intends going back to KwaZulu-Natal on his release to "do something good for my community".
Sonia Pretorius, who is doing "many years for fraud", said: "I've been here for three years already and Read-u-cate has turned around my levels of interest in studying. The programme fits in well with the whole aim of correctional services, which is to rehabilitate us," she said.
Audrey Marais said: "I've fallen in love with Read-u-cate so much that I will continue with teaching when I leave this place. I have discovered that reading is living."
Nellie Chitedze, a Malawian national, said her students were so excited by the programme that they had to be taught in a bathroom because of lack of space.
One of them, Herriet Chidi, said: "My children are impressed by my new ability to speak English. I know that I will be old by the time I leave this prison, but at least I'll be able to accompany my children to their school functions and understand when people speak English."
An inmate desperate to be accepted into the programme is Khethiwe Nkhati. She has passed matric and has already passed two other courses - criminology and criminal law - while in prison.
"Many prisoners used to be too shy to utter a word of English, but now they prefer to speak only in English. Their self-confidence has also increased," she observes about learners on the Read-u-cate programme.
"Initially, they used to roam around, but now they have schoolwork to do. They have become very responsible. I am on a waiting list to get into the programme as a teacher and I can't wait. I want to improve my chances of finding a job when I'm released," said Nkhati.
Read-u-cate has praised the British high commission for funding the programme.
Other funders are the Standard Bank Foundation and Ithuba, who is holding negotiations with other potential sponsors, according to Freinkel, in order to spread the programme to other prisoners around the country.