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Three paces wide
On his fourth morning at Robben Island in 1964, Nelson Mandela was handcuffed
and trucked with others to a new one-story structure in the center of the maximum
security area. Sentenced to life in prison for "high treason," he was led
down this hallway. In his book, Mandela recalls: "We were each given individual
cells on either side of a long corridor, with half the cells facing the courtyard.
There were about 30 cells in all. Each cell had one window, about a foot square,
covered with iron bars.... I could walk the length of my cell in three paces. When
I lay down, I could feel the wall with my feet and my head grazed the concrete at
the other side. The width was about six feet, and the walls were at least two feet
thick. I was 46 years old, a political prisoner with a life sentence, and that small
cramped space was to be my home for I knew not how long."
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