No quick-fix for SA’s jails

Prison executives at Pollsmoor raise concerns over overcrowding and security

OVERCROWDED prisons remain a headache for Western Cape prison bosses. This is according to the National Commissioner for Correctional Services, Zacharia Modise. Yesterday, Modise went on a Western Cape region site visit at Goodwood Correctional Services where he spoke to prison managers. Last week, he visited five other regions.

At the Goodwood meeting, he said the panel – made up of prison executives – raised concerns about the overcrowding and security of prisons.

“Management is concerned about overcrowding and security as far as gangsterism is concerned, but also management is looking at how do we capacitate our correctional centres, giving them more people that have skills – skills like social workers, nurses, criminologists,” he said.

According to Modise, Pollsmoor Prison was one of the top five overcrowded prisons in the country. “Overcrowding is a phenomenon all over the world. What we are trying to do is to have a better understanding of our situation,” he said.

Two months ago, about 5 000 inmates had to be moved from Pollsmoor to other facilities in the province following an outbreak of leptospirosis, allegedly as a result of a rat infestation. Two inmates died.

Correctional Services has a 120 000-bed capacity nationally. Modise said there were already about 120 000 sentenced offenders, and the overcrowding was made worse by the “burden of remandees” who also needed to be accommodated.

Modise said the merging of the Correctional Services and Justice departments under one ministry was one way of ensuring that fewer offenders were placed in Correctional Services facilities and could instead be housed elsewhere.

The Western Cape, in particular, had a problem with gangsterism in prison. To curb this, the department launched Operation Vala last week.

According to a press statement released

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18

2015 by the department, the December/January holiday period was generally a period during which inmates were desperate to escape for various reasons, which included “participating in criminal activities or simply spending time with family and friends”.

It read: “Focus areas for Operation Vala include tightening security measures at correctional centres, increased supervision of officials as well as decreasing idleness amongst inmates.”

Modise said the operation would launch in the Western Cape next week.