News24 reports that the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has called for the suspension of top officials at Leeuwkop Prison in northern Johannesburg after the discovery on Tuesday night of the body of a warder in the Covid-19 isolation wing.  

The 50-year-old woman's body was discovered on the floor in the Medium A area, which is used as a Covid-19 isolation site. Her bloodied jacket was found nearby. The official had started work at 7:00 on Tuesday, but it was only after her husband called the department at around 21:00 to enquire where she was that her body was found. Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo called for the immediate suspension of the Acting Area Commissioner, the Head of Prison, and the Security Manager at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre. Mamabolo said Popcru was concerned about the lack of clarity over the circumstances of her final hours, in the light of the union warning previously about understaffing and overcrowding. "This is a painfully disturbing incident,” Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said. Nxumalo advised that police were investigating the official’s death, and a full report would determine how she had died. The woman had worked in the department for 23 years.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard compiled by Jenni Evans at News24
• Read too, Female officer found in a pool of blood at Joburg prison, at Independent Media

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