Strippers in prison a symbol of naked corruption in the system
Prisoners cannot reach this level of misdeed without official assistance
Back in 2002 four prisoners at Grootvlei prison in Bloemfontein leaked to the media a video outlining the scale of corruption and abuse in South African prisons.
When it was finally flighted on TV, the video – filmed by two murderers, an armed robber and a cattle rustler – shocked many, while it made others feel vindicated: “this is what we’ve been trying to tell you all along”.
The euphoria of our 1994 democratic elections was beginning to fade by then, and the world had moved on. But the video put us back into the international limelight – for all the wrong reasons.
The video showed, among other things, a warder selling a gun and ammunition to a prisoner; it also showed a juvenile prisoner being raped, a scene that inspired the producers of Yizo Yizo to include such a scene in the popular TV series.
One of the raped juvenile prisoners attempted suicide numerous times, telling the media he did not feel like a complete human being any more after prison authorities auctioned him to senior prisoners who had money and power.
Given what the video showed, one thought our prison authorities would learn their lesson: clean up the mess in our prisons, and make sure that they are run professionally like rehabilitation centres that they are supposed to be.
Fair enough, the governor of Grootvlei prison, was sacked subsequent to the release of the video. But it would seem that as soon as the dust settled, prison officials resorted to their old ways.
Prisoners continued to smuggle drugs and weapons – and sometimes women – into their cells.
Look, prisoners will always take chances, but they get more successful at this because they are aided and abetted by officials in these institutions.
There exists at our prisons an environment conducive to lawlessness. Whistle-blowers are beaten up or killed.
The recent release of footage
‘‘ A cruel tease: this is what’s available out there, but you can’t have it
showing scantily clad women dancing in front of prisoners inside Johannesburg Medium-B prison puts into sharp relief the question of the authorities’ commitment to making prisons places of rehabilitation and restraint that they are meant to be.
Were it not for a conscientious person who filmed the proceedings and subsequently posted them on social media, we would not have known that the women – dubbed by some as strippers – had been commissioned by prison authorities to come and entertain prisoners.
The kerfuffle caused by this exposé has had officials running for cover, saying the performance was part of June 16 (or Youth Day) celebrations.
Since when have seminaked women prancing about inside a male prison been part of the imagery we want to associate with the 1976 revolution?
At a practical level, the presence of semi-naked women in a male-only environment would have been punishment to the men. A cruel tease: this is what’s available out there, but you can’t have it.
Or, to put a sinister spin, it would have prompted inmates to be so sexually aroused as to enlist the services of warders to smuggle sexual favours into the cells. Who knows, a rape might have taken place that night?
Acting National Correctional Services Commissioner James Smalberger has announced that 13 people from correctional services would be “contemplated for suspension if they were found to have flouted departmental rules” in connection with the incident.
One can only conclude that the incident is a tip of a bigger iceberg of mendacity which has become synonymous with our public service.
We wait and see, if justice is done.