Drakenstein Correctional Centre
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Drakenstein Correctional Centre
Step-by-step guidance using the South Africa system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Robert Cutts via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by HelenOnline via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by South African Tourism from South Africa via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Background
Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verster Prison) is a low-security prison between Paarl and Franschhoek, on the R301 road 5 km from the R45 Huguenot Road, in the valley of the Dwars River in the Western Cape of South Africa. The prison is the location where Nelson Mandela spent the last part of his imprisonment for campaigning against apartheid. In 1982 Mandela was transferred from the maximum security prison on Robben Island, a small island in Table Bay, to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town. From there, Mandela was moved to the then Victor Verster Prison on 9 December 1988, where he lived in a private house inside the prison compound. Victor Verster, a farm prison, was often used as a stepping stone for releasing lower-risk political prisoners.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Facility profile
Operator
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Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
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Region
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Security level
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Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Data completeness
16%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.