Coming up on
Special Assignment (17 November 2009):
Episode Title: Pollsmoor's Got Talent
Broadcast date: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
The teaser ...Hard time is mandatory in Pollsmoor, South Africa’s most infamous prison. Some sarcastically call it “the resort”, and for many offenders it truly the final resort - a cesspool of gangs, drugs and violence. But Special Assignment will provide an exclusive peek into another side of Pollsmoor, as the locus of creative rehabilitation and self-transformation, through the power of television.
For the past 12 years Pollsmoor has been the training ground for a creative initiative that has channeled, literally, the talents of offenders into radio and television production.
The Prison Broadcasting Network (PBN) is the brainchild of Marius Boaden - a film industry veteran and sound engineer. PBN is now equipped with 3 offices in the juvenile and adult male prison sections, replete with a radio station, sound booth, television studio and video edit suite.
The latest jewel in the PBN crown is ‘Jail Star' - a reality talent show filmed by offenders, along the lines of Idols and involving wardens and offenders as both competitors and judges.
The Department of Correctional Services opened the gates of Pollsmoor to Special Assignment, enabling the show to provide an exclusive look into a prison where creativity is transforming lives and confounding all the clichés of life on the inside.
The documentary is produced by Hazel Friedman.
Special Assignment is on SABC3 on Tuesdays at 20h31.