Dagga rife at juvenile prison facility

A STRONG smell of dagga greeted members of a parliamentary delegation visiting a juvenile section in the Mthatha Correctional Centre .

During a presentation yesterday, members of the parliamentary committee on justice and security grilled top brass from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) on how the banned substance had found its way into the cells.

KwaZulu-Natal delegate Mergan Chetty said: “[The dagga smell] was so strong we had to walk out of that section. Clearly it’s not only happening today, it happens every day.

“How is it that wardens are not aware? It seems as if it’s acceptable,” Chetty said.

He further complained about conditions that prisoners awaiting trial found themselves in, saying it was inhumane for them to be given cleaning tasks or denied access to decent sanitation before conviction.

After a visit to the medium and remand section, the committee found overcrowding, chronic staff shortages, leaking taps, dilapidated infrastructure and a lack of adequate medical services.

Regional commissioner Nkosinathi Breakfast said vacant posts would be filled before the end of the year.

Breakfast said there was a 132% overcrowding rate in the remand section while the medium section housed 1 324 inmates, instead of the 720 it was supposed to.

The committee also heard mentally ill prisoners shared the same cells with other inmates

Breakfast said the majority of prison wardens were not involved in smuggling drugs or other banned substances and transgressors were disciplined when caught.