UCT volunteer Audrey Tirivanhu does a facial for a Pollsmoor prisoner.
2 May 2017
Twenty University of Cape Town law students shelved their books on Saturday to spend time pampering hundreds of women prisoners at Pollsmoor prison.
Beauty treatments were offered to 293 sentenced prisoners and 333 awaiting trial prisoners, according to Pollsmoor communications department.
For the students it was a chance to interact with prisoners and hear their stories and their plans for their future after serving their sentences.
The event was organised by Beauty Behind Bars, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to equip the prisoners with beauty skills which they can use to make a living. In the long run the organisation would like to establish a training academy in Pollsmoor where women prisoners can train for a certificate in beauty skills.
Cleo Jacobs, founder of Beauty Behind Bars, said the organisation was designed to share love with forgotten, rejected and neglected women living behind bars.
UCT law student Aysha Lotter, the community service coordinator, said it was important for law students to interact with vulnerable groups.
The prisoners were given manicures and skin and hair treatments.