Fears of a repeat of Esidimeni behind bars
Suicide rate on the increase nationally as 2 mentally ill inmates take own their lives
Six weeks after the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (Jics) warned that suicides were on the increase among mentally ill prisoners, two more unnatural deaths were reported.
This emerged at a Jics seminar in Eastern Cape last week, where the state of mentally ill prisoners was discussed. Jics spokesperson Emerantia Cupido said the inspectorate could at this stage confirm two more unnatural deaths among mentally ill patients since the end of March. “At this stage we don’t want to speculate [if there could be more such deaths],” she said. “Due to the DCS [department of correctional services] defunct mandatory system, we cannot be absolutely sure … “The department has only categorised these two deaths so we don’t know how many of the other deaths were mentally ill inmates.
“The categorisation of deaths is still outstanding,” said Cupido, referring to the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, which states that the head of each facility must keep a detailed record of all deaths. Inspecting judge Johann van der Westhuizen recently said: “If we cannot find solutions to this problem we may be staring at a possible Life Esidimeni incident ...
“All mentally ill persons are considered vulnerable in our society, irrespective of whether they are incarcerated or not. “We need to treat our citizens with the dignity they deserve in order to preserve and protect our society in its entirety.” The two deaths that were reported after March were a suicide and a homicide.
In the suicide, the inmate, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2015 while serving a second prison term at the Zonderwater correctional centre.
He attempted suicide in 2016 and had several other attempted suicides shortly before he was found hanging in prison this year.
Inmates at Zonderwater said the man exhibited strange behaviour before hanging himself. They told Jics he had not been eating or bathing, and he screamed at night. Jics said the DCS referred him to Kalafong Hospital and upon his return he was housed at the medical facility which was a communal cell. He was found hanging in the ablution facility of the cell in June. According to Jics, he was never placed on suicide watch. There was a second report of a homicide of a mentally ill remand detainee at King William’s Town correctional facility.
Jics said records show the inmate informed the centre’s medical official on admission that he was mentally ill but did not have his medication. The man was placed in a cell with fellow mentally ill inmates, including declared state patients. Accordi ng to Jics, the inmate was not provided with medical treatment by the DCS and spent five days without his medication before he died. The report said that on the night of his death the inmate seemed delusional and allegedly tried to attack other mentally ill inmates with a toothbrush. They responded by attacking him.
The inmate was left sitting against the wall of the cell where he was found dead the next morning by officials. DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said he would not comment on the cases. “Every unnatural death [is] recorded ... [and] receives attention and must be investigated ... As a result, I will not want to comment on the information provided by Jics.” Cupido said there were 1 212 incarcerated mentally ill state patients in 81 facilities inspected by the organisation. According to an annual report released on October 11, there were 82 unnatural deaths reported in 2017/18, with suicides accounting for 27. The report looked into the living conditions of prisoners at 81 of the country’s 243 jails.
‘ ‘ We need to treat our citizens with the dignity they deserve