A cellphone, money, documents and prohibited meals were uncovered during a raid at the St Albans Correctional facility in Gqeberha on Sunday night.
The banned items were found during a surprise sweep of the prison led by correctional services national commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale.
Thobakgale said the haul illustrated the extent of maladministration at the facility, which he described as being among the worst of South Africa’s prisons.
The commissioner was accompanied by St Albans Correctional Services’ newly appointed area commissioner, Cookie Savathree Moodley, and the emergency support team during the search at the St Albans Remand Centre.
Thobakgale said the St Albans management area was among South Africa’s larger correctional services management areas that were of concern because of the inmates incarcerated there and the type of crimes committed in the Nelson Mandela Bay area.
During the search, Thobakgale found a cellphone, while emergency support team members uncovered a number of documents, including a medical file, that were not meant to be in the possession of inmates, in addition to money and prohibited meals.
“There are a number of management problems one has uncovered during the search,” he said.
“First, every unit needs to have a member in charge. We have unit managers, but since we work in shifts, a unit manager cannot always be there, but each section should have a member in charge.
“The head of the centre should know who the member in charge is, so when I ask who the member in charge is, I should get an immediate answer. That member in charge should be immediately available to respond to whatever situation, so that is a problem.
“The second problem is we found one inmate with a medical file in his possession. It is not supposed to be like that; they belong in a health institution — we have clinics and hospitals in our correctional facilities,“ Thobakgale said.
“We also found inmates that have access to buying food from the mess; that is where our officials buy food. Inmates are allowed to buy from the tuck shop; they get served meals by us as correctional services.”
He said investigations would be launched to identify the officials involved and charge them.
The department was upgrading the integrated security system at St Albans, which would require fewer officials to conduct searches.
“Some of the inmates indicated that sometimes when they returned from the courts there would not be an official to search them, and that is a cause for worry. That means there is a free flow of contraband,“ Thobakgale said.
“The problem is inmates observe; they have time to plan, so they know which time to do what, so St Albans will continue to be a focus point [for the department].”
The Herald
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