[Rowe] Maseru Central Correctional Institute,
Lesotho in Southern Africa.
It holds the country's most dangerous and disturbed criminals.
You killed your own four children?
Shockingly almost half the inmates are doing time for rape.
If you got the car, why did you rape the woman?
I rape her because she didn't give me it in time.
The culture of sexual violence in Lesotho has deep roots in society.
Women are taken as secondary citizens
in our culture.
And sexual aggression continues inside the prison.
It's a problem of inmate raping other inmate.
[man] Choose your man!
Kiss! Bring me that rope.
[speaks indistinctly]
-You will be my wife. -Okay.
-You will kiss me. -Okay. Okay.
Kiss.
Let me put this--
[angry clamoring]
My name is Raphael Rowe,
and I'm spending a week locked up in this African prison
surrounded by sex offenders.
But it's not my first time behind bars.
I was convicted in the UK of a murder I did not commit
and sentenced to life with no parole.
It took me 12 long years to clear my name.
Now I'm traveling the world to discover what life is really like
inside some of the world's toughest prisons.
Lesotho, a mountain kingdom in Southern Africa.
It's one of the poorest countries in the world,
with half the people here living in poverty.
It's also been reported to have one of the world's highest rates of rape.
To make matters worse,
nearly a quarter of the population have HIV.
So the government is fighting back against rapists,
bringing in a ten-year minimum sentence for sexual offenses.
And now the nation's prisons
are filling up with dangerous sex offenders.
This is Maseru, the capital of Lesotho.
It's a city that has a serious problem with crimes of a sexual nature,
but when they catch those perpetrators,
they end up in its maximum security prison.
[cars honking]
I'm on my way to Maseru Prison, here in the capital of Lesotho.
I've heard nearly half of the prisoners
have been convicted of sexual offenses,
the most despicable crime,
and that they're not segregated
or shunned by the murderers or thieves that are also held in this prison,
and that means that the whole population lives together.
And that makes me think very hard about the conditions
I'm about to experience.
[cars honking rapidly]
Maseru Central is Lesotho's highest-security prison.
It's chronically underfunded, with squalid living conditions.
And its violent rapists mix freely with the other inmates,
often crammed 20 to a cell.
[low clamoring]
For me, rape is the worst of all crimes,
with such a devastating psychological impact on its victims.
It's going to be tough spending the next seven days
locked up with so many sex offenders.
[handcuffs clattering]
-[official] Your name? -Raphael Rowe.
These are your valuables?
My watch and passport.
Passport.
Do you not take any photographs or fingerprints of the prisoners
that you admit into the prison?
No, we don't.
-Okay. -They are taken at the police station.
-Okay. -Yes.
[Rowe] This is a developing country and unlike developed countries,
where they do have computerized processing,
they don't have, I suspect, the resources to provide those sorts of facilities here,
or maybe they think the money needs to be spent elsewhere.
They seem confident that without photographs,
without computerized records of prisoners,
they can still manage the prison population.
We need to be sure that you were not tortured.
You have no illness that we can see.
Do you have many prisoners come here who have been tortured
-by the police before? -Daily.
-Every day. -Every day?
Sometimes they are beaten by the public.
People who arrested them.
Remove your shirt and give it to me.
Can you turn to the wall?
Now we are done.
You can take your clothes and wear them.
[guard speaks indistinctly]
So you don't do any intimate searches?
You don't--
You just make sure that the prisoner
doesn't have anything concealed on his body,
but he could have something concealed inside his body.
And we have no access to that one.
Once they're happy I haven't been beaten, I'm allowed to proceed.
[chains rattle]
I'm about to enter the prison for the first time.
[door squeals shut]
[spluttering] It's remarkably, um...
relaxed, that's my first impression.
There is this relaxed atmosphere, it's very quiet.
It doesn't have the hum of a prison.
The noise of prisoners shouting to each other.
Before I'm taken to my cell,
I have to speak to the prison nurse.
-Hello. -Hello.
-Did you have fever? -No.
Did you know about your status, HIV status?
Yes. And I don't have HIV or anything like that.
Did you ever engage into an unprotected sex
for the past two weeks?
I haven't had sex in the last couple of weeks.
So, um, no.
How many prisoners here have HIV?
For now, we are having 195 inmates.
Out of how many prisoners in the prison?
In the prison, we are having 645.
It's a problem of inmate raping other inmate.
-That is a problem. -Yes.
Those are serious concerns, serious concerns for a new prison.
All HIV-positive inmates are given access to medication,
but although the authorities acknowledge inmate rape is an issue,
I'm told most victims are too scared to report it.
This is where you're going to be issued your blankets and mattress
and your uniform.
You take out this blanket for a wash.
-Are they not clean then? -No.
-You wash them. -Okay.
You are the person who's going to use them.
It's gotta be the first time I've been issued with dirty blankets.
It absolutely stinks.
Once I've collected a mattress,
it's time to meet my new cellmates.
As I'm escorted deeper into the prison by the guards,
I want to know exactly what I'm walking into.
[Rowe] What is the biggest threat for a new prisoner like me?
You might get raped here.
If it means fighting for your life, that's exactly what you should do.
At night, I cannot guarantee anything,
what might happen in there.
We should keep on going.
[panting heavily]
What he just said to me is not fucking...
reassuring, you know.
He said to me, if you have to fight, fight for your life.
If a man proposes he wants to fuck you,
you decide whether you...
you are prepared...
to... [scoffs]
Fucking hell.
Maseru Prison is comprised of six wings.
Most have a central corridor with cells coming off either side.
I'm being taken to C-Block,
which holds around 300 prisoners.
It's pretty spartan.
[prisoners chatting]
-[man] Hey! -How're you doing?
-[man] How are you? -I'm good.
[man 1 whistles]
[man 2 whistles]
[man 1 whistles]
[low clamoring]
-[Rowe] Hello. -[inmate] Whoa! Hey!
-[Rowe] Hello. -[man] Hello.
-How are you doing? -Hi.
-I'm Raphael. -Yeah. Fine.
-Raphael. -Yeah.
I'm Raphael. How are you doing?
Yeah.
-How are you doing? -Where are you from?
My cell is about 12 by 15 foot,
with a small toilet block at the rear,
and I'll be sharing with 13 other guys.
Where can I put my mattress? Over there?
-Yeah. -Over here?
[man 1] Yeah, that's perfect.
There's your bed.
Okay.
Go to your bed.
You want me to go to bed.
-Yeah. -No.
-[speaks Sesotho] -What's... [speaks Sesotho]
Sleep!
Okay.
[man 2] Just tell them off.
[grunts]
[man 3] Ah! Ah! Ah!
No, take these-- Take these off.
-[Rowe] Oh. -Yeah.
Take these off!
Take these off.
[man 3 snickers]
I'm going to sleep here.
[speaks indistinctly]
[man 4] With you.
So you have to... [grunts]
[man 4 laughs]
-You want me to... -[man 3] Yes.
I'm coming back.
That's what he thinks. [chuckles]
Me...
I'm sleeping here...
-[man 5] Yeah. -[man 4] That's your place.
...on my own.
[man 5] Not your own.
-We are sharing the bed. -No.
You have to choose one husband. Everyone has got his own husband here.
Wh-When you say "husband..."
-Yes, we mean... -That suggests I would be the wife.
[all] Yes!
You can be my wife if you want.
[man 5] We have been arrested for a long time...
[Rowe] Yes, okay.
...and we have been separated from women for a long--
Very, very long time.
-So, now-- -So what does that suggest?
Sexual relationship or just domestic helping-each-other relationship?
-[man 5] No, it's sexual. -[man 4] You are my wife.
-Okay. -Am I clear?
[man 4] There are so many things that we can do,
-if you don't want. -[man 5] I'm going to beat you.
[man 4] So choose.
[man 5] Choose your man!
Don't... Don't waste the time.
[man 5] Come with that rope.
Bring me that rope.
[overlapping chatter]
-You will be my wife, you will kiss me. -Okay. Okay.
-Okay. -Kiss! Kiss!
-One moment. One moment. -Get that rope.
Let me put these--
Hey! Come here! Hey!
[overlapping chatter and laughing]
Is it okay? Is it okay?
[man 2] Yeah.
No, I don't like this.
I'm coaxed back into my cell, to find they're all laughing at me.
I think it's getting a bit hairy.
So this is what happens to prisoners that come here?
Yes.
Yes?
We just want to see if you're scared or you're a man.
Hey, hey.
It seems the guys were just messing about,
trying to scare me
and it worked.
But for most new inmates this initiation would be all too real.
Hey, my woman!
Bad joke or not, I now know I have to earn everyone's respect.
I spent many, many, many years in prison in England.
I was in prison for murder and robbery.
[in Sesotho] You a murderer! Murder and robbery?
[indistinct chatter and laughing]
Killed someone?
You shot someone?
Mm!
[Rowe] I spent 12 years in prison for robbery and murder I didn't do.
And then they discovered...
Listen to this guy.
[Rowe] And then they just--
-It's true. -We know guys just like you.
Okay.
You do it, I know.
[indistinct chatter]
-You just lie to us. -[man] Are you a gangster?
[man 2] I know you did it!
Okay. Okay.
Now they know I've done time myself, hopefully they'll stop trying to test me.
[Rowe] For a moment, I didn't know whether they were serious or not serious.
And they said to me at the end that it was all a joke.
So, imagine if it was for real.
These are guys, they're in prison.
If they are being deprived of sexual interaction with females,
here comes along a new guy who might have something that they want.
And they're not gonna ask me for it, they're gonna take it.
I suppose the big worry is a third of this prison has HIV.
That's what I was thinking about, anyway.
In this prison, inmates are locked up for the night at 3:00 p.m.
I've got plenty of time to get to know the main man in the cell, Mpiti.
-[keys jingling] -[Rowe] And they lock the door until...
Six o'clock in the morning.
Every day?
Every day.
At five o'clock, they switch on the lights.
That's the only window in this cell?
-This one here? -[Mpiti] It's the only one. Yes.
So have you not seen the... the sun go down for many years?
Yes.
[prisoners chattering]
It's like that.
Inmates are released from their cells at 6:00 a.m.
Right.
What do I do? This one?
Prisons are all about routine and here it's no different.
The first job I'm given is to swab the wing.
[brushes scrubbing loudly]
Don't underestimate this. This is hard fucking work.
As soon as they finish,
all the prisoners that are outside will bring the dust inside,
but that doesn't seem to deter them.
Chores done, I'm free to explore.
Walking around the prison properly for the first time,
I'm struck by the ramshackle state of this place.
This is quite a crazy bit of space.
It's a bit like a bomb site.
You know, it's like, rubble everywhere, bricks piled up.
You know, you've got an old broken door as a bridge
between two parts of the prison.
Um, you know, guys are cooking on pots.
I don't know whether that's part of the prison
or whether that's their own system, but it looks like a bit of a bomb site.
One of the things that's really struck me is the level of poverty.
You know, guys are walking around in very dirty clothing,
clothes that are hanging off of their bodies.
It's quite primitive.
A lot of prisoners in the yard
are playing a traditional game with stones.
So, this game, it's a game you play all the time?
Yes.
What's the game called?
It's Morabaraba.
-Morabaraba? -It's very interesting.
-Is it? -Yes.
-Okay. -I'll show you.
And, I'm going to beat you.
You're going to beat me?
Mpiti and his pal, BK, seem to think they can hustle a new boy.
Okay, play it again.
Just like noughts and crosses.
We have this game in England that we call "noughts and crosses."
Have you heard of it?
No.
Whoever goes first is likely to win because you have the advantage.
You see?
Now, you need a distraction.
-[laughs] -Yes.
-I just won. Take this one? -Yes.
It's a game that occupies prisoners' minds inside the prison.
And you've been in here for how many years?
-For eight years. -Eight years.
And you've done two years? Three years.
-Is this your first prison sentence? -Yes.
This is the first time you've been in prison?
What did you do?
Me, I set to steal... To steal that car and to rape that woman.
Is that what you did? Jacked a car, raped a woman?
Yes.
But if you got the car, why did you rape the woman?
I raped her because she didn't give me in time.
So I take that car with her,
then we go from, uh, the place
where there's no, uh, houses.
In the forest.
Then we will do whatever we wanted to her.
-Were you on your own? -But if...
No, I wasn't alone, we were two.
-There were two of you. -Yes.
Did both you and your co-defendant rape her?
Yes.
So you both knew what you were doing was wrong, yet you still did it.
Did she survive?
Yes.
Is that the first time you've ever done something like that?
Yes, to, to rape.
But to steal, I was... It was many times.
There are no jobs in Lesotho. We need food.
[coughs]
We need money, we need a good life.
To get it or to reach it, we have to steal.
Not everybody does.
If we need money, I will die for money.
Because there is no purpose of living if I don't get what I want.
Mpiti, I'm going to be honest with you. I look at you and I think you committed
one of the most despicable crimes.
You know, I don't know what it's like here in Lesotho,
but universally, rape is considered one of the...
You know, worse than murder...
-Yes. -...in some people's eyes,
because you violated someone in a way that you should never have done it.
If I need money,
I won't control my temper because I need it.
So whatever it takes, I will do it.
But now?
I'm a Christian. I have changed.
I have to make sure I will never do it again.
I'm troubled by Mpiti because on the one hand,
he's a rapist and I don't want to give him the time of day.
That's the truth.
But on the other hand,
he's a very engaging and interesting character.
It's just, I can't...
I can't separate who he is and the crime he committed of rape,
which is the crime that I'm told 45% of the prisoners
in this prison have committed.
It's one of the most horrific crimes.
In the last few years, prison budgets have been slashed
and basic functions,
such as feeding the 650 inmates, have become increasingly difficult.
This afternoon, I'm being sent to help prepare the last meal of the day.
Use this end?
Inside?
So I've just been asked to, um, stir this pot of peas.
The heat is intense. It's kind of-- I feel like I'm...
-Okay, look, I'm being told off. -[in Sesotho] Let's stir, let's stir.
Inside?
We are stirring it, man.
-[Rowe] Okay. Okay. -[laughs]
Look, this is how we do it.
-Okay, so this-- -[indistinct]
You are stirring like it's maize meal. Scoop it because this is peas.
[continues indistinct]
Oh, that's turning it.
He's showing me the technique of how to turn the peas over.
Okay, done? Finish?
Finished.
Okay.
It's basically their kitchen.
This is where they cook the food that they provide for the prisoners.
It's a reflection, I suppose, of what they don't have.
They don't have an industrial kitchen.
You might call this primitive, medieval.
This is poor.
They don't have the resources to provide anything else.
Once the food is cooked,
it's brought inside the prison's church to be dished out through the windows.
[low chatter]
Prisoners eat from anything they can get their hands on,
and I can't say I'm excited to taste the end product.
Okay, thank you.
Okay.
It looks like mashed potato.
Some people don't want it. They've just dashed it on the floor.
The white maize meal is cooked inside.
-Thank you. -Locals call it papa.
You know, when you don't have nothing and you're offered this, it's something.
Something is always better than nothing, right?
It has to be.
It's fucking hot.
He's laughing at me.
[prisoners speaking indistinctly]
It tastes like nothing. Will I eat it all?
No, I won't.
There's no communal eating space here.
So inmates take all meals to their cells.
[in Sesotho] Eat that papa. This is the papa we eat in prison. It's hot!
Yeah.
-[in Sesotho] Eat, man. Come on, eat. -No way, man!
You, sit down. Sit down and eat.
My cellmates are still giving me grief,
but at least they now seem to trust me,
and I want to know the truth behind the sexual intimidation
when I first arrived.
But is it true that you all have girlfriends,
that you are all having sex with each other?
-I have two wives. -You have two wives.
One is in here, the other is an ex.
But in here, you couldn't wait for her?
I don't have time.
What I have to do is to...
-Release. -Yes.
To enjoy.
So when I'm made to run, that made me a pussy?
You-- You can't run.
Because the door are closed.
It'll be locked, as it is locked now.
So nowhere to go.
Okay.
Including Mpiti, nine of my cellmates are doing time for rape,
and it seems they continue to demand sex, even now they're locked up.
No, man, I had enough. You eat it, man.
When I arrived,
I was issued with dirty blankets I was expected to clean myself.
But getting it done is not gonna be easy.
There's no hot running water here,
so every prisoner owns a bucket.
Water must be carried to the cooking fires
and heated before it can be used for washing.
And like the kitchen, the laundry facilities are very basic.
Just feels like they're trying to clean something that's impossible to clean.
It's an ingenious little way.
They've put their Wellingtons on and then they run on the water
with purpose.
What's your name?
Raymond.
-Okay, mine's Raphael. -Okay.
-You don't use any soap? -Uh, we don't have soap now.
No soap.
The prison rations soap and it soon runs out.
There's insects on these blankets, like bedbugs.
Yeah, they...
They bite so hard, you know.
-I must have been bitten already. -[laughs]
-[Raymond] You see? -That's an insect?
Yeah. Do you want to see the blood?
Here's the blood.
It's a human's blood.
[Rowe] It's a bedbug of some kind?
Yeah.
Okay, let's see if you can dance better than me.
-Huh? -Yeah.
Yeah? The only thing I like is that you're chubbier.
-So you bounce. -Yeah, it's dancing. [laughs]
Well, I've never done this before, have I?
So, you know, cleaning a blanket by dancing on it.
-Yeah. -How long have you been here, Raymond?
This is my seventh year and four months.
You've been in this prison seven years, four months?
I arrived here in 2012, 26th of June.
How long did you get sent to prison for?
-Fifteen years. -Fifteen years?
-Yeah. -What was that for? What did you do?
-Sexual offense. -Sexual offense?
Yes, sir.
Seems a lot of guys are in here for sexual offenses.
What was your sexual offense?
-Rape. -You committed a rape?
Yes, but... I was...
I was drunk.
Was it just the one rape that you did?
-Yes, sir. -How old was she?
I don't... I forget, maybe 12, 10...
-So, it was a child? -...somewhere there.
You raped a child.
I raped a child, and I'm very sorry about that.
And I want the victim's parents to know that...
I'm very sorry.
Have you been able to say sorry to them?
I didn't get a chance to go to them.
I'm in here.
They are the ones who have the chance to come.
So we can sit together and solve this thing.
You can't solve it.
You see, the child will be damaged for the rest of her life.
I'm not happy about that.
My family now, they don't even trust me.
They don't trust you?
They don’t see me as a family member anymore.
Why did you do it?
I don't know. I don't even want to blame anything.
It just happened.
It makes me sometimes cry, you know.
It sounds to me like you are tortured by what you did.
-You, you, you-- -I deserve it, sir.
I deserve to be tortured.
I deserve to get any kind of punishment that I get
because of what I did.
And I agree with that.
I-I think it's refreshing to hear somebody accept the responsibility
for the wickedness that you've done.
Should we take these and hang them up over there now?
-Okay. -Okay.
Because you are in here for raping a child,
has anybody physically attacked you because of what you've done?
No. No one.
Yes.
I take some comfort knowing that he's suffering for what he did.
You know, most child rapists are segregated.
They're isolated from the rest of the prison population,
because they would become the target of other prisoners.
In here, it just seems to be something that is accepted.
I'm just coming back from my duty, and I see this guy
with these incredible hats.
Is that popcorn?
-Popcorn? -Popcorn.
Popcorn. So, he's made this out of a popcorn...
container.
Two hats.
I mean, it's quite well-made as well.
I mean...
Popcorn hats.
You know? It's quite ingenious.
How long you've been here?
-Eighteen years. -Eighteen years?
Eighteen years.
What for? What did you do?
[in Sesotho] It was attempted rape and theft.
You meet someone, you randomly ask them what they're in for,
and inevitably, it seems it's rape or attempted rape.
I mean, it's obviously a cultural problem.
I knew before I came here
that nearly half these prisoners were convicted of sex crimes,
but it's still a tough thing to confront,
and I still don't understand what's behind this disturbing
and widespread problem.
Today, I'm switching sides
and spending time with the prison staff.
Guard Sepo has worked here for 20 years.
I want to know why there are so many sex offenders in this prison
and how the authorities control them.
One of the things I noticed when I first came in
was my initiation into the cell,
and the prisoners, you know, they were really intimidating
and made me feel that I had to choose one of my fellow cellmates
to be my wife or my husband.
In other words, they were saying I had to choose someone to have sex with.
[whistles]
I then see these AIDS Health Foundation boxes,
which I'm told are often full of condoms.
Much as we are trying all we can
to, to, to stop the inmates from being intimate,
from being sexually intimate, see.
Uh, and we know it's happening.
So, better we accept that as a fact
-because it is happening. -Okay.
At least, try and fight...
uh, against the HIV and new infections.
Quite a lot of the prisoners are here for sexual...
sexual offenses.
[Sepo] You know, the problem with sex is it's all done in secret.
People hiding themselves when they have to do it.
[prisoners chattering]
And really I think that one is rather a national problem
than our problem as an institution
because it says people out there are committing sexual offenses
at a very alarming rate.
If the issue of rape really is a nationwide problem,
what's being done to combat it?
I'm leaving the prison for the streets of the capital,
Maseru, to meet Senior Inspector, Nepo.
She's spearheading a police campaign to raise awareness about sex crimes
and to empower women who are victims to come forward.
Why does Lesotho have such a problem with...
with sexual offenses?
Women are taken as secondary citizens in...
in our culture for a long time.
Some of the clauses in our constitution still maintained that women
uh, who are married should remain submissive to their husbands.
For generations,
Lesotho law stated that a husband took ownership of his wife's property
and her body.
A Sexual Offenses Act overruled this in 2003,
but gender discrimination is still a big issue.
[Rowe] Are things changing?
Are more women reporting sexual offenses?
Yes, more women are reporting.
They attend awareness activities.
Police talk to women about self-defense and...
make women to come out and report rape.
Do you think it's a cultural problem?
Yes, lack of education and the attitudes.
A change of attitudes may be... may be helpful.
If people don't want to change their attitudes,
then it will be difficult to implement the changes.
They think sleeping with their women anytime they want
cannot amount to rape.
I think, "Wow, that is shocking."
It is. It is.
Led by officers like Nepo,
the government are clearly trying to change male attitudes to rape.
But with such a deep-rooted problem, they've got a tough job on their hands
and I'm told many cases still go unreported
with victims often too scared to come forward.
[bells ringing]
The next day, I'm back inside Maseru Central.
I want to know what the prison authorities
are doing to change inmates' attitudes to rape
and find out what vocational training they're being given
to ensure those released don't re-offend.
Okay, so this is the tailor's?
Yes, this is the tailoring workshop.
-What are you making? What's this? -A hat. A hat.
-This kind of a hat I'm making. -Oh, right. Okay.
This is what I'm making.
People make good... Pay good money for this.
Is this to be sold outside?
Former policeman Timothy was convicted of murdering his brother and father
in a drunken rage,
but after 12 years inside, he'll soon be released.
[laughs] Okay.
So what is your hope for the future then?
Because you may very soon be released from here.
Mm, I want to have my own tailoring workshop.
I can now create anything.
I can make anything.
Let me see if I can do what you do. Step aside.
I've got it.
-[sewing machine whirs] -[yelps]
Try to be slow.
[Rowe] Okay, it's not-- It's not a straight line.
Yes, it's not.
-Okay, that's too fast, right? -Yeah.
[Rowe] Twelve years ago,
you... you shot...
you shot your brother after an argument.
The, the crime itself is so painful, it hurts me.
And I regret it.
With the tailoring skills he's learned inside,
Timothy has a fighting chance of earning a living...
-Take care. -Thank you.
...and rebuilding his life when he's soon released back into society.
How you doing?
But next door, in the leather workshop,
I meet an inmate whose sentence is just beginning.
How long have you been working in this workshop?
Um, from 2016.
But in jail, 2012 January.
-So you've been in prison seven years? -From--
[speaks indistinctly]
And how long is your sentence?
Seventy-five years.
Fucking hell, 75 years?
Seventy-five years.
You've been sent to prison for 75 years?
How old are you?
-Now? -Yeah.
Now I'm 26 years.
So you'll be dead. You're gonna die in prison?
I will be dead, but I'm still...
looking where I will get help.
Kopano was convicted of three armed robberies
and three sexual offenses.
As part of the government's crackdown on sex crime,
he must serve his sentences consecutively, 75 years in total.
When you were out thieving for financial gain,
what drove you to decide to rape that poor defenseless woman?
[in Sesotho] I didn't know that what I had done
is one of the worst offenses.
I only learned about the severity of my crime when I got here.
I didn't even understand when I was in court.
Has the prison helped rehabilitate you in any way?
Yes, there was a time that some women from outside came.
From an organization.
They came to talk about those issues.
To let us know that rape is a very terrible crime.
Because we take away the confidence the victim had.
For whole life, the things I do, I regret.
Why?
Why am I doing these kind of things?
It really shook me to the core.
I don't want to believe that you don't know the difference.
That even a young man knows the difference between right and wrong.
He says to me he didn't.
He said it to me in such a way
that made me want to believe him,
despite the fact I find it really hard
to not judge him for being a rapist.
Whilst Kopano may now understand the horrific nature of his crimes,
his long sentence means it's unlikely he'll ever experience life
as a free man.
But at least he's filling his days.
[inmate whistles]
-[Rowe] How're you doing? -I'm back in my cell on C-Block.
[Rowe] What-- What is this?
The light. We need to smoke.
Despite claiming poverty drove him to commit his crimes of robbery and rape,
Mpiti doesn't seem interested in acquiring new skills.
Instead, he says he's found a different road to redemption.
[Mpiti] This book is very interesting.
It's guided me to... to change my life.
Who... Who are you who is dragging me?
Who Are You Who Is Dragging Me?
Where did you get the book from?
There are churches who come here,
so that churches bring us the books sometimes.
As well as reading his Christian self-help book...
This is the church?
...Mpiti's also part of a prisoner-run congregation,
and he's invited me to check it out.
[inmates singing]
I can see among the congregation some of my cellmates.
Mpiti, who has taken, um, his hat off for the occasion.
I also spot child rapist Raymond,
who's keen to explain how he views religion.
[Raymond] Some of us, we try to blame devil.
Devil's spirit, it was inside me. It forced me to commit a crime.
-Mm. -I know the devil is God's angel
who has been sent down
because he didn't even want to listen to God.
Every bad thing we do in life is because of him.
Prisoners often turn to God.
For Raymond, it seems religion has given him somebody else
to blame for his dreadful crime.
Standing with a group of guys, singing religious songs,
holding a Bible...
Is that enough to exempt you from such a barbaric act?
[inmates singing continues]
[indistinct chatter]
The rapists I've met in this prison,
with their outdated male attitudes towards sex,
have truly shocked me.
In Lesotho, it seems old-fashioned beliefs
still have a firm grip on some people.
Today I'm meeting a man I'm told has committed a terrible crime,
apparently influenced by traditions dating back thousands of years.
This is the Remand Wing or "Remand Block."
Most of the prisoners held in here have been...
[inmates clamoring loudly]
...are waiting for trial and so they haven't been convicted yet,
and I've become aware of one particular prisoner
who's on this wing
who there has been a lot of publicity about,
and I'm hoping that he's going to talk to me.
Across Lesotho,
witch doctors are still a big part of everyday life,
especially in rural communities.
Some offer medical remedies,
others promise great wealth and prosperity.
-Ntjelo? -[speaking Sesotho]
But what some people are prepared to do in exchange is deeply disturbing.
What are your charges? Why are you here?
[in Sesotho] I'm accused of killing my four children.
You killed your own four children?
We were drinking some traditional medicine.
Then we would have visions
of having success in business.
Once we took it, we had different visions
and the evil spirit led us to do things.
The medicine commanded us to kill our children.
What did you do to kill the children?
I can't believe I'm asking that.
The two-month old, my wife knifed to death.
The two other children, we had this medicine which we would drink
and we washed the children with it and they died.
And this last one,
truly speaking, we also knifed to death.
What do you think about...
This is such a fucking hard question to ask, but, I mean, what do you--
What do you think about the fact that you murdered your children?
I think of them and my heart sinks
when I remember what beautiful children they were.
Where's your wife?
When we arrived at the police station, the police assaulted her.
She died from her injuries.
Will you plead guilty or not guilty?
I feel that I am not guilty.
I was overcome by an evil spirit.
So it was neither my intention nor my wife's to commit those offenses.
The evil spirits did this, not me.
The courts in Lesotho have shown leniency in the past
if the accused is proven to be deluded by witchcraft,
as Ntjelo claims he was.
[Rowe] His hand touched my hand
and I felt that vibration of evil.
He doesn't seem to show any remorse whatsoever.
Having said that, he's on remand.
He hasn't been convicted. His crimes...
or the crimes leveled against him, he's not been found guilty of
and so he's innocent until proven guilty.
I'm coming to the end of my time in Maseru Central.
This prison holds some dangerous offenders in need of serious rehabilitation.
And it's clearly being held back by chronic underfunding.
Before I leave,
I want to find out how they plan to overcome this problem.
So I'm meeting up with Deputy Commissioner for Correctional Services, Akim Phamotse.
The number of prisoners convicted of sexual offenses,
that seems to be a serious problem.
What we are doing as a rehabilitation, we are--
We are trying to provide some treatment, psychosocial treatment,
uh... that, uh, addresses sexual offending.
They work hand-in-glove with the... with the brothers and chaplains,
that is, people who are providing some... some spiritual support.
Do you think the government provides you with the resources
to do what you need to do, or would you like to have more?
We are not actually getting even one-quarter of what we are expecting.
But it is because of the level of economy of our country.
We are not able to meet some of the requirements,
uh, set in the international standards.
Uh, considering medical care, feeding,
education and training, rehabilitation, spiritual care...
Really? You fall in all of those categories?
-Yes. -That's really interesting
and really honest to admit to.
What we are doing is working with the business community,
we are working with the churches,
we're working with anybody who is willing,
who understands our mandate
to help us, uh, maybe revamp our programs.
[exhales deeply]
Maseru Central Prison struggles to meet the basic needs of its prisoners.
Nearly half of those here have been convicted of rape
or sexual assault
and it's difficult to have empathy for men who've committed those sorts of crimes.
And the lack of resources means it's a huge challenge for the prison
to convince the public that these men can be rehabilitated
and returned back into society.