Ps Maxwell Benjamin is working through the Biblecor prison ministry program Masquerade, with hardened gangsters. Two of the gangster inmates in Drakenstein Prison stood out, who stabbed four wardens in 2023. One inmate *Winton M divulged that through the lessons in Masquerade, he learned that the power of understanding, sympathy, and sensitivity is needed to remove your mask. He said that he grew up in a gang environment in Cape Town, and his father was absent from his life which caused him deep hurt. He only had his mother to rely on. He further went on to testify that the gangs offered him a sense of belonging and he strongly desired to ‘fit in’ like the kids around him. He learned from a young age to wear different masks to pretend to be someone he was not. He had to fight his own battles and only as a teenager he finally felt like a man when he had a gun in his hand. The first time he met his father, was in Pollsmoor prison, where his father was a prisoner himself, a homeless man arrested for being a drug mule. Winton was so emotionally broken, but he did not want to cry in front of his father, so he continued to wear his mask to hide his true feelings from his father. He was later transferred to Drakenstein prison and had to put on the mask of intimidation. Through losing a chess game, the gang leader forced Winton to redeem himself as a man, by stabbing the wardens. Winton did not want to stab them but had to put on a mask and man up, to satisfy the gang leader.
*Angus B, the second inmate was in various prisons for raping three men outside of prison, as well as raping a man in the single cells in prison.
Both offenders, two weeks ago, were sentenced to an additional fifteen years each. Ps Maxwell stated that during the lessons, they confess that removing their masks is not easy, it makes them extremely vulnerable. They wear the masks as a survival mechanism. They are afraid to remove their masks, as they will be used as an “LG Washing Machine,” as the gang members will accept them being Christian, and turning from gangsterism, but will use them to do their dirty laundry daily. Both inmates admitted that stabbing the wardens was a mistake.
Also, working with the Medium B inmates, the deeper the program runs, the more Ps Maxwell notices how the inmates in the classes are shedding their masks and changing their hearts, turning from drugs and gangsterism, seeking Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Masquerade is published in English and Afrikaans (Agter die Masker) and deals with various topics such as
*Names changed for the safety of the prisoners
