🔓 Transforming Lives Behind Bars and Beyond

Gavin grew up in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain. He lost his mother as a child, fell into addiction, joined prison gangs, and was incarcerated at Pollsmoor for aggravated robbery. By every measure, his story seemed set in one direction.

Then it changed. Today, Gavin leads the Men's Programme at Pollsmoor, standing at the gate ready to guide other men through the same journey he survived.

His wife Mervaline walked a road of her own — nine years living on the streets, the loss of her son, and time inside Pollsmoor herself. In the stillness of her sentence, she made herself one quiet promise: that she would never come back. She kept it. Today, she brings that same lived understanding into the Women's Programme, alongside Lead Facilitator Kirsten Adams.

Gavin and Mervaline married in May 2026 — two people who once walked the hardest road through the same facility, who chose each other and chose something different. For the men and women inside Pollsmoor, that is living proof that change is possible.

Men and women inside Pollsmoor share many of the same backgrounds, circumstances and cycles that once defined the lives of our facilitators — gang exposure, childhood trauma, addiction, and a system that hardens rather than heals. These are people who will return to society. The question is whether they return prepared, or whether the cycle continues.

The cycle of incarceration is one of the most preventable — and most expensive — problems in our communities. When people leave prison without support, without a plan, and without a changed mindset, the odds of reoffending are high. The cost falls on families, communities, and the justice system itself.

Gang culture inside prison actively works against rehabilitation. It reinforces identity, loyalty and survival thinking that makes the outside world harder to navigate, not easier. A programme led by people who understand that culture from the inside creates a different kind of conversation — one that participants can actually hear.

This is preventative work. Every rand invested before release is a rand that may prevent harm, restore a family, and change what a community looks like five years from now.

The Dr Phil-afel Foundation has been formally accepted by Pollsmoor Correctional Centre to implement this life-coaching and reintegration programme. The programme launches on Monday, 20 July — every donation helps us launch fully resourced and sustain the work through the months that follow.

Sessions run in separate men's and women's streams, moving participants through a simple, proven framework:

Awareness → Responsibility → Choice → Action → Reintegration

The programme runs across ten modules delivered monthly, with a particular focus on participants approaching release. Support doesn't stop at the prison gate — each participant is supported with an individual reintegration plan covering safe accommodation, family reconnection where appropriate, skills pathways and mentorship, and followed up after release at 72 hours, two weeks, one month, two months and three months, so support doesn't end the day someone walks out.

Gavin Hare — Lead Facilitator, Men's Programme: Gavin brings lived experience of incarceration and recovery to the programme, having rebuilt his life after serving time at Pollsmoor for aggravated robbery. He leads the Men's Programme with credibility, honesty, and a firsthand understanding of the journey participants are on.

Chazz Jurd — Co-Facilitator, Men's Programme: Chazz brings years of dedicated, trust-building presence and street-based listening experience to the programme, supporting Gavin and building consistent, honest engagement with participants.

Kirsten Adams — Lead Facilitator, Women's Programme and Programme Content Lead: a certified life coach with an Honours degree in Psychology, Kirsten leads structured facilitation for the women's stream and developed the programme's curriculum and materials from the ground up.

Mervaline Hare — Co-Facilitator, Women's Programme: Mervaline supports the women's stream through lived-experience understanding and grounded, dignity-based encouragement.

Behind the programme, the Dr Phil-afel Foundation's leadership — Chad Cupido, Feroza Begg, and Zenith Yassin — coordinate the partnership with Pollsmoor and the Department of Correctional Services, and support the programme through funding, administration, stakeholder relationships, and reporting.

Facilitator stipends and transport · Life-coaching workbooks and printed materials · Structured coaching sessions · Introduction and completion ceremonies · Community reintegration support after release.

Corporate sponsorship opportunities are available for companies looking to invest in rehabilitation and community reintegration as part of their CSI commitment. All sponsors are acknowledged across Foundation materials and social media.

Most people will return to society. The question is who they return as, and whether anyone gave them the tools to choose differently.

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