Bloody and brutal history of Old Durban prison
Durban — Part of the wall and two watchtowers are the only reminders of the dark and brutal history of the old Central Prison which is the focus of today’s Then and Now feature.
The old Durban Central Prison site is now the home of the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre. The ICC says it’s a symbol of transformation from “a place of darkness and incarceration into a place of enlightenment and global dialogue”.
Only this wall – now a sanitary white – and two watchtowers remain.
In 1992 the Community Murals Project Trust were the instigators of the “Durban Human Rights Wall” on the west wall surrounding the jail which was marked for demolition. The wall was initially painted with a number of clauses from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1997 the wall was painted over to depict the major clauses of the historic Bill of Rights adopted by the first democratically elected government.
The prison began its torturous life as a wattle and daub structure. By 1864, a building – costing £13 000 and considered expensive for the time – was erected.
Journalist and owner of a weekly newspaper called The Prince, George Webb Hardy was jailed for three months for an article critical of some Durban women’s morals. He wrote a 19-part series recounting his experience, including the terrible floggings, and one warden who “revelled in the suffering of his victims”. Some were so grievously harmed they had to be treated in hospital for three weeks.
He wrote that prisoners were forced to spend more than six hours a day on the treadwheel – grinding grain, pumping water or just as punishment – frequently causing injury or premature death. He recorded the cramped conditions and prisoners “rotten with lice and disease and filth (and) herded together”.
The prison was a major source of labour for harbour development projects and roadworks, particularly after the ranks swelled dramatically after the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion.
The prison closed in 1985 when the Westville Prison was opened.
Independent on Saturday