Lax prison security under fire
Guards at West Bank jail gates abandon posts when it rains
SECURITY at the East London prison has come under fire after prison guards were accused of fleeing their posts in search of shelter from the rain.
The Daily Dispatch yesterday spoke to former and current prison officials, who exposed the lax security at the main entrance to the facility on the West Bank.
The prison is home to a number of dangerous inmates, including murderers and rapists.
A former warder and service provider for the department of correctional services said when it rained, vehicles entered the prison grounds without being searched.
“When you are driving inside the prison yard, you can see inmates freely walking around with officials. Some [inmates] will be sent to the shop and back. What if their friends can smuggle them out of this prison freely? Or what if some will leave dangerous weapons for them, to be used to murder the same warders?”
The Daily Dispatch visited the facility yesterday and drove through to the prison grounds without being stopped or searched.
Both boom gates were up as warders sat inside their temporary shelters. Inside the prison grounds, uncuffed inmates could be seen walking around, doing deliveries with officials to the shops and other buildings.
While driving out, a warder on duty opened the boom gate without searching the Dispatch vehicle.
A prison official, who freely chatted to the Dispatch, said the security breach was caused by the rain.
“We don’t have shelters to hide when it is raining. There’s no human being who can work in the rain, as if they are stupid. We will do this until they build us shelters.
“Our senior officials are staying in air-conditioned offices, and even when it’s hot we are facing the same problems, as some of us are suffering from skin cancer.”
Another official said the main gate was the “first and last line of defence” for the prison.
“Security is very fragile there, but for those warders it is the norm that if it rains, they don’t work. Remember, we have cash-in-transit [criminals] and syndicates that are jailed there.”
Department of correctional services regional spokesman Zama Feni said security officials working at the main gate were required to search all cars and visitors entering and exiting the facility.
“The alleged non-searching of visitors’ cars will be subject to an investigation,” he said.
Zamani Ndlovu of Young Prison South Africa, a non-governmental organisation that monitors the upholding of rights at prisons, said the security breach was not only a danger to warders, but to inmates too.
“Security is always a concern to us. We had cases where warders are attacked and killed every day in our jails. These lax officials are exposing their colleagues and the community to danger,” Ndlovu said.
Five years ago the Dispatch exposed how people from the suburb walked in and out of the prison yard through gaps in the fence.
Inmates were often allowed to go out and tend to the prison’s vegetable gardens and lawns.
In 2004, awaiting-trial prisoners Daniel Nkwiliso, Desmond Nompumza and Nonelelo Nkwinti escaped from the prison. They climbed through a gaping hole in a wire fence and escaped. Two of them were later recaptured and in 2007 were sentenced to life in prison, and the other was killed in a shootout with police in Johannesburg.
In 2005 Ngconde Balfour, then the correctional services minister, flew to East London after reading a Dispatch report about a 400m gap in the fence at the facility. —