In August of 1962 Mandela was arrested, jailed and convicted of leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was sentenced to five years in prison, where he remained through June 1964 when he was sentenced to life for his anti-apartheid engagement through the African National Congress (ANC) and the Umkhonto we Sizwe or "MK," the ANC's armed wing. He would spend the next 18 years at the Robben Island penitentiary until 1982, when he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison on the South African mainland.