It is well known that Nelson Mandela encouraged everyone who arrived on Robben Island to use their time productively through studying for an academic qualification. He famously studied through South Africa's correspondence university Unisa, and was only one of many political prisoners to earn their degrees while incarcerated.

Dr Baz Dreisinger has made her life's work the study of prison systems around the world, and has become strongly opposed to the existing system and is agitating for urgent reform. Her argument comes from a belief that most prisoners are a product of an environment that is heavily stacked against them.