Dinner time in Rumbek prison

An unusual Sunday afternoon
Marco is an Italian student of human rights and he's writing his thesis on the IDPs (Internally Displaced Peoples) of South Sudan. He came to Rumbek to interview some of those who have returned to their native area (so called ‘returnees’) and to collect some data concerning the returnees of this area. We often bump into each other on Rumbek’s main street as we both try to escape from our respective compounds and breath some ‘fresh’ (it’s just a figure of speech...) air outside. This morning I bumped into him after the mass. While chatting he tells me that in the afternoon he will be going with a group of people from the Diocese to visit Rumbek prison. I don’t have to think about it too much and I tell him that I would like to join. I have never visited a prison in my life, plus for the past few days I have been in the mood for ‘challenging’ myself a little bit and this might be a good occasion to do so.

We meet at 4,30 in front of the prison – no more than 300 meters away from my own (golden) prison. The person who is accompanying us has been granted a special permission for us. One of the guards, a young man called Johnson walks us to the males' wing of the prison. I have to bow my head to enter a very low iron gate. A noisy crowd of approximately 100-150 men seems very curious and excited at the arrival of these 2 kawagia (whites) visitors on a Sunday afternoon. We are clearly unexpected guests today. As it often happens here we are very soon surrounded by a crowd of people eager to shake hands, ask our names, etc. I try to smile although I realise that around me now there are also lots of kids.

I ask Marco how old he thinks these kids are. 14, maybe 15 year old boys together with much older inmates. It’s difficult not to wonder what this implies. We go on walking, by now more and more people have noticed the two foreigners who are walking around the courtyard of Rumbek prison. I notice one man who is struggling to drag himself towards us. He is limping and making tiny steps. As he gets closer I realize his legs and ankles are tied with a big chain. A little farther on I see 2 men who are chained together around their knees (!). I am amazed by the way they do exactly the same steps in order to move. I start feeling puzzled. I discretely ask Johnson why the legs of the first man are chained. He answers me that such is the punishment for those who have commited murder. And then he explains to me that those two guys who are now chained together once were fighting on two opposite sides. For a moment I am speechless. Some strange flash backs from high school literature course pop up in my head. Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the terrible punishments of the 'Inferno' (for the Italian readership: il contrappasso*). But here in Rumbek this is not literature and these two men are real and they're facing me, right now.

We go on shaking hands and answering the usual questions for about 5 minutes, until we see people running and starting to shout. In a corner of the big courtyard some of them are fighting. I see some hands punching, some stones are even starting to fly around, dozens of inmates flocking to the spot where somebody is being beaten up. Not even a minute later the guards start entering the courtyard. They have whips (!), sticks, and guns obviously. Johnson tells me and Marco to leave. ‘Time is not good, come back another time’. We look down and quickly proceed to the gate.


(...)

Me and my Italian fellow are still a bit ‘shaken’ by this unexpected development. In my head now I have the images of that day in June during the riot at the Ministry of Education. Like that day I am amazed (scared) by how rapidly situations can change here and, even when there is no apparent sign, you can find yourself in the midst of great troubles.

Inmates in Rumbek prison's female wing

However as we both still feel like continuing our visit we ask permission to visit the women’s wing of the prison. The guard has no objections and – as he seems more ‘relaxed’ that the previous one – I dare asking him to take some pictures. And he nodds his head telling me that it’s ok. The first thing I see while entering the gate is a bunch of 40-50 bowls containing sorgum flour soup that has just been cooked. Later somebody explains to me that is the food for the male inmates to whom the women prepare food everyday. A group of 20-30 of them is sitting outside. Some of them have very young babies that they are still breastfeeding. Most of them have been caught fighting, commiting adulter, or have murdered. They look at me, the guard explains to them I am visiting and encourages me to ‘tell them something’. I have no clue what to tell them as I am already trying to ‘digest’ a bunch of very mixed feelings and sensations. I have to improvise, I wasn't prepared for this. I explain to them I am working in Rumbek for a few months, that we are building a vocational school where hopefully soon their kids, brothers, relatives will be able to learn a job. They seem interested, the even clap their hands. I sit down, look around. There are a lot more babies than what I saw at the beginning. Some inmates are still cooking sorghum in big pots, then they pour it in those bowls lined up in the courtyard (see photos). All around I notice several vultures flying around, some of them land on this sort of 'open' kitchen. They are huge, ugly, and look voracious. All of a sudden I feel that the look of those huge and scary-looking birds in that very place is about to make me feel sick. I grind my teeth, try to look elsewhere.



Our time is almost up, the inmates need to go bring the food to the men. They line up very neatly and proceed to the other wing of the prison as they cross the gate. With Marco we look at this strange scene from the outside. The car and the people we came with are waiting for us however we decide it’s better to walk. We both need a bit of time to 'digest' what we’ve just seen and the swimming pool party which as every Sunday afternoon is taking place in my compound, right across from my appartment, is not the best place to do so.


Female prisoners bring food to the men

* In the first part ('Inferno', the Hell) of 'The Divine Comedy', the Italian author Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) explains the concept of 'contrappasso' as a type of punishment directly related to the sin that the souls of the Hell committed during their lifetime.