Jailbreak questions

THE country is eagerly awaiting answers on how 16 dangerous awaiting-trial prisoners managed to break out of the high-security Johannesburg Prison, with its maze of security features.

We support Parliament’s call to the Department of Correctional Services to account how the men fled from the Medium A facility.

South Africa has a total of 243 prisons, of which 236 are operational. The country’s jail population stands at around 158 000, making our prison population the highest on the continent and seventh largest in the world.

The prisons hold 137% of the capacity they were designed for. Small wonder why those with innovative, scheming minds will not think twice about making a dash from these dungeons of hell.

Sources at the prison, known as Sun City, said the jailbreak took place just 100m from where a security checkpoint is located. The 16 men broke through the iron bars of the prison windows, broke a portion of the wall and then escaped through the fence early last week Monday.

It is not known if the CCTV, which is supposed to keep the perimeter of the huge complex under constant surveillance, was operational. If it wasn’t, that would further raise eyebrows and pile more questions on how such negligence can be allowed to take place.

Some of the escapees were facing rape, murder and armed robbery charges, and the complainants in their cases must be spending sleepless nights.

Two of the escapees have been shot dead in a shoot-out with the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, yet the silence regarding the other 14 fugitives makes us wonder if the trail has gone cold.

Contrast this with the well-publicised escape that took place on June 6, 2015 at the Clinton Correctional Facility in the US. Two inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, escaped from the maximum security facility.

Authorities threw hundreds of officers and helicopters into the search, which ultimately cost $23 million (R276m). Matt was shot and killed, while Sweat was shot and taken into custody.

We expect authorities to spare little effort to put the Sun City 14 where they belong.