Using the method of prison tourism, this book is guided by the question: ‘What are the South African prisons of today for?’ i.e. ‘What purposes do they serve?’ It gives an account of the author’s attempts to be the eyes and ears for a public who may never see the inside of South Africa’s prisons. Intimately sharing her experiences in these spaces, Lin van Schalkwyk focuses on the stories that are told by the people she encounters and places it alongside her own unfolding inner nar...