Prisoner’s transfer bid to Westville denied

A PRISONER serving a life sentence for murder, has lost his case in the Durban High Court to be retransferred to Westville Prison.

Judge Fikile Mokgohloa recently adjourned the matter involving prisoner Sanjay Singh to an unconfirmed date.

Singh’s father, Soorash, and mother, Shadabanu, of Estcourt, lodged the application against the Minister of Correctional Services to have him transferred from Goedemoed Prison in Aliwal North to Westville Prison in Durban. They claimed the transfer scuttled Singh’s plans to study criminology via UNISA and to marry his fiancee, known only as Shireen, of Newlands West in Durban.

Singh was convicted of murder in the Ladysmith Circuit Court and has served 12 years.

Gert Coetzee Janse van Rensburg, the acting head at Medium B at Westville Prison, denied the Department of Correctional Services had acted unlawfully in transferring Singh.

He said Singh and other prisoners were transferred to other prisons, including Goedemoed, because Medium B was overcrowded.

“It was built to accommodate 2 137 prisoners but in October 2013 had 4 205 prisoners. The national task team formed to look into the overcrowding in prisons, recommended at a meeting in Pretoria on August 24, 2013, that the situation be addressed urgently.

“It was decided that prisoners should be moved to closer where their next of kin were. Because Singh stated that his next of kin were in Krugersdorp, he was transferred to Goedemoed Prison.

“We ascertained that he is not registered as a student at UNISA. Further when Shireen visited him in December last year, she stated in the prison register at Goedemoed that she was Singh’s wife.

“If that is the case, then it means they are married. Singh is allowed four visits a month by visitors.

“Prisoners from Westville Prison were also transferred to other prisons outside KwaZuluNatal. The transfers were done in the interest of prisoners,” said Van Rensburg.