South African prisons are riddled with gangs but some men are stepping above crime and changing their lives. Offenders are turning to boxing to change.
Warren Baynes stepped into a world he never imagined he would face. It started by a chance meeting that led him down a long path to photographing the men of Drakenstein Correctional Facility.
“How it came about was that I met an ex-offender who was a boxing coach at Future Champs gym in Phillipi, and through the owner of the Future Champs gym, I met with the head of sport and recreation at Drakenstein Correctional Facility, Mr Bertie Fourie, as well as the boxers.”
His goal was to photograph the men in the Drakenstein Amateur Boxing Club, a prison run programme that is rehabilitating men. He submitted a proposal to the prison and waited 11 months to hear back. During that time he built relationships with the boxers. Warren wanted the men to feel comfortable being photographed in their cells and the boxing ring.
The boxing programme is strictly monitored and has many rules. Warren told us that “the offenders can join the boxing programme by request but need to uphold strict behavioural rules in order to continue with the programme; being a part of gang activity in the facility can get boxers kicked out of the club and it’s unlikely that they will get a chance to rejoin. The boxers get one and half hour training sessions three times a week in a fully equipped gym on the Drakenstein premises.”
“Most of the offenders have similar backgrounds: they come from broken homes in underprivileged communities, there was no father figure in their lives, gangs offered a sense of identity and filled the role of a pseudo-family as well as an income.”
“Boxing helps the offenders establish new identities and the physical activity of boxing helps these men to release pent-up frustrations and anger; it also offers them a break from the mundanity of prison life and the self-control to avoid conflict in the cells. With these new identities, offenders can leave prison with a sense of purpose and, hopefully, become positive influences in their community.”
These are some of the success stories that Warren witnessed while working on the 12-month project.
Abdul Aziz was a member of the notorious 28’s when he was sentenced to 7 years, with a 5 year suspended sentence, for murder. Abdul learnt to box while in prison and soon became one of Drakenstein Amateur Boxing Club’s most motivated and dedicated boxers and left Drakenstein with an amateur record of 8 fights with 7 wins and 1 loss.
Since leaving Drakenstein, with the help of this photo project, Abdul has signed with King’s Boxing Gym in Woodstock (a gym that offers free boxing classes to youths in order to help prevent youths in the area from joining gangs) and is now training full time.
Linten Jansen (featured in the video below) is another success story. Since leaving prison, Linten has stayed away from gang life because of boxing. Linten used his newfound motivation to find a job and soon became a highly valued employee; he has also had a baby boy. Linten is yet to have a fight since leaving Drakenstein but continues to train at UWC.
“For the last 12 months I’ve been doing pictures at the prison and as the body of work grew I started to realise that the images were humanising the offenders condition, something I hope the viewer picks up on.”
“I also hope to create a series that shows hope within South Africa’s correctional facilities and get enough publicity around the story to assist boxers finds clubs when they leave Drakenstein.”
“Gangsterism is a symptom of a broken community, not an ideology onto itself. By creating new identities for these men and giving them the tools to create a better future for themselves, they can return to their communities and stand a pillar of hope for other youths.”
These are some of the men who are part of the photo series.
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