Ramkraal Prison in Bloemfontein. Abandoned and looted.

Описание: Historic Ramkraal Prison: Demolition by neglect?

Few people are aware of the exceptional historical and heritage value of Mangaung’s now dilapidated and ransacked Ramkraal Prison. This is its story:

By the time the railway reached Bloemfontein in 1890, the “unsightly old Town Prison” in St George Street, built in the 1850s, had become too small and inefficient. In December 1893 a new prison, designed by state architect D.E. Wentink and built of sandstone and red bricks, was completed east of the railway, close to Waaihoek, in the current Dr Belcher Street in Batho. It originally was a T-shaped building with three wings. The house of the prison warden, as well as bath and toilet facilities, were accommodated in separate buildings on the site. In 1895 an enclosing wall, with two intimidating, castle-like watch towers were erected around the prison.

Serious crimes were punished with corporal punishment and hard labour. Murderers received the death penalty and when the new prison was completed, the gallows were moved there. During and after the Anglo Boer War the Ramkraal jail, as it became known, was enlarged several times, and served as the central state prison of Bloemfontein until the Groenvlei goal was opened in 1994, when the Ramkraal prison was closed. Between 1894 and 1994 several well-known people, for example Mahatma Gandhi (1913), Genl C.R. de Wet (during the 1914 Rebellion) and Struggle icons Charlotte Maxeke and Caleb Motshabi was incarcerated in the Ramkraal jail.

After its closing the Ramkraal prison started to deteriorate, and although an arts and crafts centre was initially housed there, the building was later on occupied by homeless people. With the planning of the new building of the Free State Legislature on the same site next to the jail, the old prison was earmarked to be converted into a museum. However since March 2012 this historical prison building has been ransacked and damaged by looters seeking building material. Unless drastic steps are taken while the process is still reversible, this historic building is doomed. It will be a shame if this significant part of Mangaung’s cultural heritage, which is important to all cultural groups, is lost due to negligence. ( National Museum )