Drawing on David Skarbek's analysis on the informal versus formal modes of governing, this article looks at how a country with limited resources South Africa could be innovative in fighting a pandemic which has claimed over 2 million lives across the world. I approach the analysis through the lens of the realities faced by prison gangs and how they organise themselves. The informal organisation of prison gangs is vastly distinct from the hard lockdowns instituted by several governments worldwide – on ordinary citizens – including South Africa. So, to what extent can one compare prison life to life under a level five lockdown, also known as a hard lockdown, which is the strictest in terms of regulations. Against this background, the article suggests that innovation may not only be defined as sophisticated tools of modern technology or data science. Innovation in the context of trials and hardship, as with COVID-19, cou