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Robben Island (prison)

Former prison off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa

  • 5 min read
  • 2 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Apartheid

It is a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Beginning in 1961, the 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.

Robben Island Prison had, by the time of Nelson Mandela's imprisonment, long been viewed as "a symbol of oppression" by many black South Africans.

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