Old Prison, Project Gateway

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Site Information

InfoStatusUpdate:
Complete
Location:
2 Burger St (Cnr Pine and Edendale), Pietermaritzburg
Lat / Long:
POINT (30.3719722222 -29.6133333333)
Route:
NRLHR
Period:
1652 to 1910, 1910 to 1960, 1960 to 1994
Site Category:
Prison
Heritage Status:
Provincial Heritage Site
Node:
Node 9: uKhahlamba Drakensberg and Kwa-Zulu Natal
Land Ownership:
State
Land Use:
Museum
Open to Public:
Yes
Hours:
Opening hours 08h00 to 16h30, Monday to Friday. Visits on weekends and public holidays can be made by prior arrangement.
Cost of Entry:

Adults: R20
Children: R10

Contact:

Project Gateway
Tel: +27 (0)33 845 0400
Email: enquiries@projectgateway.co.za

Facilities, access and services:

Tours of the old prison need to be arranged in advance. Funds raised from tours of the facilities as well as the onsite Old Prison Cafe support a number of community projects including a homeless shelter, business training and HIV/AIDS education. There are conference centres (Training Room, Devon House, Chapel and Gateway hall), offices and a community centre which host volunteer teams.
There is merchandise and hand crafted goods, made with the skills taught under the Project Gateway empowerment programme, for sale.
Secure parking is available on-site.

Associated Sites:
Links:

Image(s)

Site Details

Heritage Content:

As you tour the old cellblock, you will see all manner of graffiti on the walls. It’s interesting to stop here and try to decipher the meaning of these scratches and scribbles: were they messages to each other, prison gang turf markings, a rude sketch or the desperate last prayer of a condemned man?

Relevance of Site:

The Old Prison in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, is a memorable heritage site. They started building the first cell block in 1862, and later added a gallows, high-security cells and what is thought to have been a torture room. At first it was one prisoner for each cell. Then the numbers increased, and the cells had to be adapted to take a dozen convicts, all sleeping on mats. Prisoners were a mix of criminals and the politically defiant, and in later years the Pietermaritzburg Prison housed anti-apartheid freedom fighters. In 1989, however, the prison was over-crowded, in a run-down condition and subsequently closed. A new chapter began for this venue, however, when the Old Prison site was ceded to Project Gateway, a local group of churches working to uplift communities around Pietermaritzburg.

The Old Prison has accommodated many people that have since become heroes nationally and internationally. These include King Dinuzulu, Derrick R.C Marsh, Moses Mabhida, Kasturba Ghandi, Harry Gwala, A.S.Chetty, Hloni Zondi and Peter Brown, who have made a great impact on the lives of many people in South Africa.

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