From the moment Andrew Mlangeni and his comrades touched the ground of Robben Island the atmosphere reinforced his long-held view that jail does not only take away one's liberties – it also forces alien cultures and routines on a person. It was easy to take instructions from his seniors in the SACP, ANC and MK, but it was going to be hard to live under enforced rules. ‘I realised the importance of personal freedom in one's life,’ he later revealed.

He had expected hardship in prison, a measure by the apartheid government to try and break the prisoners and frustrate the struggle efforts outside. ‘I imagined it was hard being a prisoner but I realised it was going to be even harder for me as a political prisoner convicted for trying to overthrow an oppressive regime.’ His cell was small, but big enough for him to survive with his meagre possessions that included a mat and blankets. It had no running water but only iron buckets the lids of which were carefully designed to store as little water as possible, enough only to wash face and hands and to brush teeth.

‘I began to feel like a caged bird.'He had to function by instruction and live a life determined by people who did not want him to find happiness. He and all other prisoners were woken at half past five and allowed about 45 minutes to tidy their rooms for the day and perhaps say a little prayer. At a quarter to seven they were allowed out of their cells. The first item in their routine was to empty their sanitation buckets and clean them in the allocated sinks. They received three meals a day, all dominated by maize meal – starting with motogo or soft porridge in the morning and pap13 for lunch and pap for supper. Supper was at half past four and by eight o'clock they were all ordered to sleep.

At the beginning of their first week, they were housed in an old section of the prison, before they were moved to a new complex divided into four sections marked A, B, C and D. They were all locked in section B, on the eastern side of the new complex. Each one of them was locked in his own cell, each with a door and a single window.