Pollsmoor: where the bar could be raised on foul conditions
MVELISI Sitokisi spent four months in the remand section of Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town — and nearly paid for it with his life.
The mechanic from Gugulethu was arrested on February 12 last year and charged with rape. He was released on bail four months later and, on July 4, had the charges against him withdrawn for lack of evidence.
However, the HIV-positive 48year-old’s health had deteriorated because, he says, he was not given his antiretroviral medication and contracted tuberculosis from another inmate in his 30-bed cell that housed 65 people.
Sitokisi’s claims are in court papers as part of a case lodged against the Department of Correctional Services by Sonke Gender Justice, demanding that the “deplorable” conditions at the remand centre are urgently attended to.
The NGO says overcrowding is at the heart of the conditions, but that this is not the only problem.
“Detainees are deprived of, among other things, basic amenities to which they are entitled, sufficient exercise, personal space and access to the library,” says Sonke executive director Dean Peacock in papers filed in December.
“The cells are overcrowded and the ablution facilities are in a state of poor repair or total disrepair, unhygienic and simply inadequate given the number of people for whom they are intended to cater. Sleeping facilities are inadequate for the number of inmates.
“The conditions at Pollsmoor fall short of constitutional and statutory standards.”
Sitokisi lays bare the conditions during his incarceration. “The cell was extremely overcrowded. [It] had only one toilet, one shower and one sink. These ablution facilities had to be shared by 65 people. The cell often smelt bad because of the overcrowding and the fact that we could not keep it clean all the time.” Many inmates had to sleep on the floor or share beds. But the worst part was how it affected his health. “They never gave me my antiretroviral treatment . . . As a result, I defaulted on my HIV treatment. I was exposed to TB while I was detained. My CD4 count dropped and my viral load has increased. I feel that my health has moved backwards.”
Then he found out that he had contracted TB.
Apart from Sitokisi, seven other current or former inmates have submitted affidavits on their experiences.
In responding papers, the remand centre’s acting head, Cecil Jacobs, admits that overcrowding is a big problem. On March 1, there were 4 325 inmates; the centre is designed for 1 619.
However, he denies many claims in the affidavits, saying that they were collected in a “very one-sided and selective manner”, and that the case is “vague and embarrassing” and should be thrown out.
Sonke, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, is filing responding papers before a trial date is set.
Late last year, Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, after a visit to the remand centre, described conditions as “very far from the standard the constitution and the statues require”.
“I was deeply shocked by what my law clerks and I witnessed during the visit.”
Jacobs says there have been improvements since Cameron’s visit. “The objective reality is that our facilities in general, and the Pollsmoor remand detention facility in particular, are faced with enormous challenges which we as a department must face and address in the context of historical inequalities, limited capacity and serious budgetary constraints.”