Pretoria - Casper Greeff got a standing ovation from his fellow prisoners after he received a doctorate degree during a graduation ceremony. But, for the 63-year-old it was the reaction of his three daughters that brought him the most joy, writes Irene Naidoo.
Seated in the second row of the hall at Pretoria Prison, all three of the women burst into tears as their father walked onto the stage.
"My family are very proud of me. My daughters and I are very close. It is such an honour to have such beautiful children and for them to be here to witness this," he tells BuaNews.
Greeff was one of the 176 prisoners from across Gauteng who was awarded a certificate, diploma or degree during a graduation ceremony for the prisoners at the Pretoria Prison on Wednesday.
Greeff, who is a dentist, is serving a life sentence at the Baviaanspoort Prison for murder. He does not want to speak about the crime, saying he has put that chapter of his life behind him.
But the 63-year-old admits that life in prison was very difficult in the beginning. He decided to start studying in 2003 because he had the time and there was not much else to do in prison.
Seven years on, Greeff now has a doctorate in Biblical Archaeology. But the journey to the doctorate was not easy and studying in prison posed many challenges, he says.
"It was very difficult because you study in a vacuum. You have no one to talk to. No one to share your knowledge with," Greeff explains.
He is hopeful that one day he will be granted parole and when that day comes, Greeff wants to use his qualifications to go into research.
"My first love will always be dentistry but I would also love to do research," he adds.
Standing by his side, with a hand around his waist, Greeff's 19-year-old daughter Romi, beams at her father's accomplishment.
"I'm very proud of him. I knew he has the ability to achieve a lot. I expected this," she says.
Romi, who is at university, says her father was always encouraging her to do better and that they even exchanged study tips.
"Something positive has come from him being in prison. It doesn't help to concentrate on all the negatives of the situation," she says.
Lelanie Letley, who has already served a little more than eight years in prison for murder, was also named as a top achiever at the graduation ceremony.
She went into prison which just a matric certificate to her name but she now has a Diploma in Ministry and on Wednesday she was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management.
Like Greeff, Letley is hesitant to go into the details of the crime she committed.
"That is part of the past - a past that I have left behind. I am a completely changed person. I'm looking to the future and I'm not going to let the past define me," she explains.
Letley attributes the transformation she has undergone to the education that she gained while in prison. Just three months after she started serving her sentence, Letley turned to her books.
"My education has helped me move forward. It made me realise that no matter the length of the sentence I have to serve, I can still achieve something. The name tag "offender" cannot take away everything I've learnt," she says.
Letley adds that prison was far from the ideal learning environment.
"It is a huge challenge. You have to contend with no support structure. You have no access to resources and the noise level is very high."
Her family, although not at the graduation ceremony was extremely proud of her achievement, she says.
"My family was very disappointed with me when I was arrested and sentenced but now I've given them something to be proud of. My mum told me that I could have achieved all of this 10 years ago," Letley adds.
With almost two more years of her sentence still ahead of her, Letley is not bitter about the years she has already spent behind bars.
She also plans on using the knowledge she gained while in prison before she says goodbye to her jail cell.
"I would love to go into the business world and maybe start my own business," Letley says.
Acting Regional Commissioner for Gauteng, Kenny Bouwer, says the achievement of prisoners such as Greeff and Letley was all the more remarkable because inmates who chose to study received no special treatment and still had to deal with all the challenges of being in prison.
He made an appeal to companies to employ inmates who had qualifications once they were released.
"They (the prisoners) made a mistake, they've done the time and now they are prepared to come back and contribute to society. They must be given that opportunity," Bouwer says.
The Department of Correctional Services does not have the budget to fund prisoners' studies and the prisoners rely on funding from their families, sponsors or bursaries, he adds.
He says the public should consider offering financial support to the inmates because education goes a long way in helping with the rehabilitation process.
