The “Old Breakwater Prison”

The original Breakwater prison was established in 1859 to house the long term male convicts that were destined to work on the construction of the breakwater in Table Bay.

The original building had large dormitories that housed 60 men each and due to a labour shortage in the Cape the penal system was seldom used. At this time the Colonial system was primarily concerned with separating groups of convicts into labour forces made up of men of the same race. The reasons for the difference in the treatment of convicts here, than those in Europe, were ascribed to financial constraints and the perception that criminals here were different from those “at home”, especially the black criminals.

The blacks were seen as less able to respond to rehabilitative programmes and more likely to need punitive treatment than whites. This led to the construction of the Treadmill in 1890. This was a revolving staircase which rotated when prisoners stepped on it.

It was a cruel invention and was the customary penalty for laziness and petty gaol offences. The prisoners had to keep a steady pace and if the men slackened off, the rotating planks would then lacerate their shins. A man could spend a day from 9.00am to 5.00pm climbing these endless stairs with only 5 minutes rest every half hour. The treadmill can still be viewed today and is located at the end of the row of isolation cells in the upper parking area.

The Breakwater Prison was the first prison to effect racial segregation due to the increase of “white” IDB(Illegal Diamond Buying) offenders. The prison housed most of these offenders.

As a result of a work strike in 1885, when the black and white convicts held meetings in the yard together, the prison authorities became more convinced that the interracial contact was the worst form of trouble causing amongst the criminals. It was primarily due to this that a separate prison for blacks and whites was desired.

The Industrial Breakwater Prison (the existing 4 turret building) was built in 1902 to house white male convicts, and thus to effect a structural separation from black convicts. In 1905 most of the black convicts from the “Old Prison” were transferred to the De Beers convict station to be hired at a reduced rate. The remaining few were hired out to the Harbour Board at 6d per day to work in the docks.

After 1901 the white convicts were taught trades according to their class position in the colonial community. Some of the black convicts of the “good conduct category” learned trades in the workshops, but most were used as unskilled labour in the docks. This pattern continued in the SA prison services up until the late 20th century.

The design of the prison with 4 castellated turrets and enclosed courtyard, was based on that of Millbank and Pentonville prisons in England. It housed 200 convicts, although it’s capacity was for 352. Nine years later, by 1910 there were wards each housing 11 convicts- a full house !

The Industrial Breakwater Prison was only used as a convict station for 10 years. It did however signal the advent of separated institutions for black and white prisoners in the country and the application in the colony of more “modern” European methods of rehabilitation through industrial training.

Between 1911 and 1926 the Industrial Prison housed more juvenile offenders and from 1926 until 1989 it became a hostel for black dock workers.

In 1991 the building was leased by the University of Cape Town and the The Graduate School of Business along with Breakwater Lodge opened it’s doors as seen today.