Timothy Peter Jenkin is a 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...

n writer, former political prisoner and prison escapee.

Jenkin, a Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 resident and University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

 alumnus, was charged with "producing and distributing 18 different pamphlets on behalf of banned organisations" including the South African Communist Party

South African Communist Party

South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...

, African National Congress

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

 and the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe

Umkhonto we Sizwe

Umkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the armed wing of the African National Congress which fought against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961...

. He did so from 1975-78 and posted a sign on the seventh floor of a Cape Town building which said "The ANC lives". He was arrested, plead guilty to all charges and received a 12 year sentence. However, a year later in 1979, Jenkin and fellow inmates Alex Moumbaris and Stephen Lee broke out of Pretoria Central Prison

Pretoria Central Prison

Pretoria Central Prison is a large prison in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The prison was the official site of capital punishment in South Africa during the apartheid era...

. He subsequently moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and worked as a Research Officer for the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. He also wrote Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Central Prison.

After moving back to South Africa, he co-founded the Community Exchange System

Community Exchange System

The Community Exchange System is an Internet-based trading network which allows participants to buy and sell goods and services without using a national currency...

 in 2003, and was elected an Ashoka fellow

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public is a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, VA, supporting the field of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs through a Social Venture Capital approach with the goal of...

in 2007.