treason and sabotage by the apartheid government, acts punishable by death. but they got life imprisonment instead, banished to robin island, one of the country's most brutal and isolated prisons. another political prisoner remembers the first time he saw mandela in the prison yard. >> i could see from the way he walked and from his conduct that here was a man already stamping his authority on prison regime. >> reporter: mandela was released 27 years later. >> i have spoken about freedom in my lifetime. your struggle, your commitment and your discipline has released me to stand before you today. >> reporter: and his lack of bitterness towards the apartheid