Jail ‘causes brain damage’

INMATES at the Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility could easily suffer from stunted mental development and added trauma because of the poor conditions in which they are held.

That’s according to Arina Smith, a social worker of two decades employed by the South African National Institute for Crime Prevention, who said the overcrowding, coupled with inadequate numbers of beds, meant “detainees must live in extremely close proximity to one another”.

“This in itself is psychologically stressful,” Smit said in an affidavit which forms part of the court matter involving Sonke Gender Justice.

The organisation has approached the Western Cape High Court to try to have the government and the detention facility’s head provide an action plan to remedy the situation.

In Smit’s affidavit, she said detainees were often “in a state of idleness” because they were confined to cells with very few activities and little chance to exercise.

“Prolonged idleness and boredom are destructive states of being for both the body and mind, particularly for detainees aged 26 and younger.”

She said the frontal lobe of the brain continued to develop until about 26 years of age and was more susceptible to permanent damage during that development period.

With detainees, certain neural pathways used for less useful behaviour could die away. “This means that when detainees are deprived of mental stimulation, such as reading or being able to write, for an extended period of time, the neural pathways that enable and strengthen those skills will ultimately be lost,” Smit said.

“In addition, maladaptive coping mechanisms and behaviour become mapped into the brain and, accordingly, become exceedingly difficult to change later in life.”

She viewed the conditions at Pollsmoor’s remand facility as dehumanising.

“The prolonged exposure to traumatic circumstances can lead to complex posttraumatic stress disorder.”