Covid-19-infected prison warder goes on the run
INMATES and officials at the Durban Westville Correctional Services are living in fear after six prisoners were quarantined in Medium B section.
The prisoners have been tasked to clean the single quarters where the official who tested positive to Covid-19 lived before he was placed in isolation at the Clairwood facility.
Last week, the Sunday Tribune reported that the infected warder lived in the single quarters at the prison, which is home to about 60 members who share the same ablution facilities.
The Westville Medium B official had recently returned to work after he was hospitalised in March.
He had gone to the in-house doctor after feeling unwell when he displayed Covid-19 symptoms.
The infected member, who was accused of attending a braai with colleagues, has allegedly disappeared from the isolation site, according to sources. However, the department could not confirm this.
A senior source who works at the prison said nobody knows where the infected warder was after he could not be located at the isolation site. He said he was more concerned about other prisoners who may have been in contact with the six inmates.
“The horse has already bolted. We are not going to win this fight against the spread of Covid-19. I know the prisoners from Med C B1 were only quarantined on Monday after finding out about the Covid-19 member. So that whole week and weekend, they mixed with the other prisoners from Med C B,” he said.
Another source alleged the DCS charged the infected member with attempted murder.
He said Medium B section should be decontaminated. He also complained of members selling cigarette and liquor at the single quarters.
He said there was a risk of infection because families were squashed into a single room.
“There is lawlessness with officers selling alcohol and cigarettes contradicting their mandate of maintaining law and order. A bottle of Vodka is sold for R350,” he said.
He added that several members don’t wear masks when they enter the Main Gate at Westville Prison.
Singabakho Nxumalo, spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services, said he could not disclose details about the facility in which the official was stationed.
“Due to extreme stigmatisation that our officials have been subjected to, we no longer disclose centres where inmates or officials are based. It is unfortunate that some institutions have seen Covid-19 as an avenue to gain prominence by offering wrong information.
“We have also observed, with grave concern, the mushrooming of organisations purporting to be representing the interests of inmates – whose main objective is to propagate misinformation, and sadly, a number of media houses allocate them airtime without even verifying the facts,” he said.
Nxumalo added the department was following all the procedures detailed by the Department of Health in terms of tracing direct contacts and decontamination of the area.