Today in History: Journalists get first visit to Robben Island
During the visit in 1977, material conditions were considered in general to be satisfactory, but the lack of contact with the outside world was severe.
On this day in 1977, 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.
On the island, 12km north-east of Cape Town, political prisoners of the anti-apartheid movement were held 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 only established in the early 1960s.
The living conditions were, particularly in the early years, extremely bad. Prisoners had to labour in the quarry, did not have sufficient clothing and had to sleep on thin straw mats on the stone floor. Through strikes and endless protests, more humane conditions were introduced in 1971, when the prisoners were also allowed to study.
Information courtesy of: https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/journalists-first-visit-robben-island.
