C Max is the maximum security division of the Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

 Correctional Services located in Central Pretoria, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It is run by the South African Ministry of Correctional Services

South African Ministry of Correctional Services

The Department of Correctional Services is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for running South Africa's prison system. The department has about 34,000 staff and is responsible for the administration of 240 prisons, which accommodates about 189,748 inmates....

.

Background

The division is specifically designed for violent and disruptive prisoners

Convict

A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...

 who have been classified as dangerous in terms of the South African Criminal Procedure Act. Prisoners are kept in solitary confinement

Solitary confinement

Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...

 for 23 hours of each day out and specialized equipment, such as electric shields, are used by the prison guards. It consists of two rows of fifty cells each.

Prison Escape

In November 2006, Annanias Mathe

Annanias Mathe

Annanias Mathe is a notorious serial killer, serial rapist and armed robber from Mozambique who achieved further notoriety in 2006 by being the only person to have ever escaped from the maximum high-security C-Max Penitentiary in Pretoria, South Africa.Mathe was initially arrested on 51 counts of...

 became the first person to escape from C Max. Mathe, who has extensive military training gained during Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

's civil war

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

, is reported to have escaped by covering his body in Vaseline

Vaseline

Vaseline is a brand of petroleum jelly based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, deodorants and personal lubricants....

and squeezing through his tiny cell window (20 cm by 60 cm). Mathe had been detained on more than 50 charges, including murder, rape, armed robbery and hijacking. He was recaptured two weeks after his escape following a large manhunt.