In early 200s, a young man from my village was arrested at a Rustenburg mine hostel. Wrong place, wrong time, he walked through the gates drunk, shortly after a man had been murdered. He was sentenced to 17 years because they couldn’t tie him to murder. @Our_DA

It would take at least 5 years for the charges to be dropped. First time I visited him on a Saturday @ Leeuwkop prison, I literally tripped over families, relatives, spiritual advisors visiting incarcerated black men. Inside the prison, there was no place to sit with him. @Our_DA

They say prisons are full ‘innocent’ people but in this instance, the young man was innocent and so were 9 other men I met during my visits. I still have his court records and those of 5 others I met @ Leeuwkop. All 10 of them were eventually released. @Our_DA

He was arrested because someone pointed at him as the murderer when he walked through the hostel gates. That was at night, after 10pm. The murder had taken place a few blocks from the gate, in a dimly lit walk way. He was sentenced after 45 minutes in court. @Our_DA

In my life, I met 10 innocent black men who were thrown in jail because our justice system wasn’t interested in justice. I met their families, incl a pregnant young bride who almost gave birth in my car. She was so terrified of visiting jail she went into early labor. @Our_DA

Now you tell us, people in jail should not be given a vaccine or pushed to the bottom of the queue . What about those who are there because they didn’t have money for fancy lawyers? What about the Bill of Rights which applies to the guilty, the innocent and all of us? @Our_DA

Before visiting Leeuwkop, the only jail system I was familiar with was political imprisonment, my detention and those of many others. I remember visiting Lumka Yengeni @ Pollsmoor, terrified of being tracked by the Special Branch. Once inside, we met in a clean room. @Our_DA

Polsmoor visits were nightmarish but I didn’t worry about whether Lumka would get to keep the training shoes she badly needed for her exercises. Yes, I knew I risked arrest. Leeuwkop was a different kind of nightmare, we talked standing, there were not enough seats. @Our_DA

At Leeuwkop, the only way to talk was to shout over the din of other voices & prison sounds. Imprisonment as punishment was not enough, being incarcerated meant they were robbed of all humanity. With every visit, their families were saying you are human. We love you. @Our_DA

Now you are saying that punishment is not enough. For good measure, throw in denial of access to a vaccine that may be life saving. You are saying throw away the Bill of Rghts and let’s use our prejudice based rationality and moralising... @Our_DA