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Mail & Guardian reports that according to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), prisoners are in control of prisons in SA, and its members are at the mercy of prisoners.
The union has urged the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to hire more guards and build more prisons in the Eastern Cape to address overcrowding. Popcru blamed the increasing spate of attacks against warders on staff shortages and overcrowding at Eastern Cape prisons. Two inmates stabbed three guards inside St Albans prison last Wednesday, and a week earlier a guard was stabbed in the eye at the same facility. Last week's attack, during which the two inmates used sharpened metal objects to stab the warders, is believed to be an attempt to avenge the death of a 28s gang member who was killed during clashes with guards at the facility in September 2019. Popcru pointed out that no new prisons had been built by the ANC government since it took over the country in 1994, and this contributed to overcrowding. Combined, the Eastern Cape’s 45 prisons' overcrowding figures stood at 170.39%, while there was an 8.13% vacancy rate for guards. According to Popcru’s Xolani Prusente, there were 21,145 inmates in the province's prisons and only 5,121 DCS personnel watching over them. Prusente added that only 60% of the workforce were guards trained to deal with prisoners, while 40% were support staff who worked in offices. The 60% prison guard complement consisted of 40% women, meaning that most females were working in prisons housing male inmates. DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said that currently, the department had 1,008 learners at its colleges who would be deployed for experiential learning from 22 December 2022. They will be replaced by another group of 1,032 learners early in 2023.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Malibongwe Dayimani at Mail & Guardian (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page