Maximum Security Prison, Robben Island


Maximum Security Prison is an inactive prison at Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. It is prominent because Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. After that, three former inmates of this prison Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe, and Jacob Zuma have gone on to become President of South Africa.
It is a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Since 1961, Maximum Security Prison was used by the South African government for political prisoners and convicted criminals.
The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991 and the medium security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later in 1996.

List of former prisoners