|
Department of Correctional Services
October 27, 2011 Engineering News
The South African government has officially cancelled the much-delayed
public-private partnership (PPP) procurement process for four new prisons,
which would have added 3 000 additional bed spaces at the Paarl, East London,
Nigel and Klerksdorp correctional centres. The
procurement process was initiated in October 2003 when a transaction advisory
team was appointed to study the feasibility of delivering the facilities in
partnership with the private sector. The request for qualifications were
released in October 2007 and the final tender on September 30, 2008. The bids
were submitted in May 2009. However, Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who
took over the position in May 2009, instituted a policy and operational
review, during which the bids were "not opened or evaluated" and
were kept in a secure facility. Mapisa-Nqakula said
the review highlighted a number of financial and operational problems with
the PPP model, including the fact that it conflicted with policy stipulating
that security and custodial services of the State not be handed over the
third parties. She acknowledged that new prison capacity was still required,
owing to ongoing overcrowding. But also insisted that South Africa needed to
find new solutions to dealing with offenders beside incarceration. The
department had, thus, issued a tender for electronic tagging as one possible
alternative and would be seeking to promote the solution within the Justice
and Security clusters.
May 25, 2011 Sunday Times
They gave the minister responsible for prisons, Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula, two weeks to brief them in detail
on the proposal. During a joint meeting of the public works and correctional
services portfolio committees, MPs of all parties told officials that
parliament would not support plans to build four new correctional centres until they showed how the state would get value
for money from the initiative. MPs also said they did not understand why the
state was so keen to delegate its responsibility to provide security at
prisons to private firms. "This is the crux of our problem. We are privatising a security facility, which to my mind in
principle is wrong. A security facility should be controlled by the state,
not by a private entity and that to my mind is not the route to go", said
ANC MP Salam Abram. The departments of correctional services and public works
and the National Treasury are considering bids from companies to build four
new prisons to cope with overcrowding. Companies would be paid to run such
prisons for 25 years under public-private partnership rules and then
ownership would pass to the state. The government spends R786-million a year
to run two existing privately run prisons, in Bloemfontein and Louis
Trichardt. MPs fear costs may rocket. Vincent Smith, chairman of the
correctional services committee, said the state would have paid almost R16-
billion by the time the Bloemfontein and Louis-Trichardt 25-year contracts
expired. Sasa Subban, deputy director-general
responsible for asset management in public works, which maintains prison
buildings, conceded privately run prisons were expensive. But the state did
not have enough money to build prisons on its own. Smith said his committee
would not support the project until it was convinced it was cost-effective to
enlist private firms to run prisons. "It is interesting, Department of
Public Works, that you say that the public-private partnership model is
generally considered to be an expensive model and for or some reason [the]
government is trying to force this thing through. Everybody is kicking and
therefore the question that was raised initially - whose agenda are we
pushing here? - becomes very critical for me," he said. Correctional
services officials could not say how much the department expected to spend on
the project, although the project was approved by the National Treasury in
2008.
October 14, 2010 Times Live
The Correctional Services Department is reviewing its partnership with the
companies running two of the country's private prisons at a cost of
R700-million a year. This was revealed yesterday in Parliament by the
department's director-general, Tom Moyane. MPs
yesterday lashed out at the department for paying two companies a combined
R700-million a year to run jails for it - though it had spent the same amount
to build a new prison in Kimberley, in Northern Cape. The contracts between
the department and the owners of the private prisons are in force for the
next 25 years. "Twenty-five years of paying R700-million [a year]? I'm
sure I can buy facilities with that amount of money if I save the
money," said Vincent Smith, chairman of the parliamentary portfolio
committee on prisons, and an ANC MP . In response, Moyane admitted that the public-private partnerships were
not meeting the department's expectations. "The current public-private
partnerships, one in Mangaung and one in Limpopo,
do not address, fundamentally, the needs of the organisation,"
he said. He told the committee that Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has
started a policy review of the partnerships with the aim of giving the
department full control of the private jails. The department is not involved
in their management.
November 27, 2009 Business Journal
More upheavals are in store for the South African prisons service, and the labour movement will be at the centre of them. But only
some of these relate to the tender-rigging scandal exposed in a briefing to
Parliament last week by Special Investigations Unit (SIU) head Willie
Hofmeyr. Hofmeyr informed parliamentarians about the results of an SIU
investigation into bribery and corruption involving close to R2 billion in
tenders to the Department of Correctional Services. Central to this is the
politically well-connected and controversial Bosasa
Operations, one of the companies approached a year ago to tender for the
construction and management of four maximum security prisons. Hofmeyr did not
mention the tenders or the planned new "private" prisons to be
constructed in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. In fact, none of
the union federations and neither of the unions organising
in the sector were aware this week that private sector tenders had been
sought and were being evaluated. Apart from Bosasa,
three other partnership companies "with BEE (black economic empowerment)
components" were invited to tender for the prisons to be built near
Paarl and in Nigel, Klerksdorp and East London. They are Geo Group of the US,
and two British-based prison operators, Kaylyx
Services and the GSL subsidiary of security company Group 4. According to a
Correctional Services Department source, the tenders closed on April 30 and
construction is set to start next May with completion in 18 months. This news
has already started to cause consternation throughout the labour
movement, but it also comes at a time when the trade unions in the sector are
at their weakest for many years. Problems that have festered for more than a
decade have begun to surface, some of them prompted by the SIU investigation,
with its confirmation of rumours of high-level corruption
that have circulated for years.
November 22, 2009 Sunday Times
Bosasa Group, the company which allegedly paid
kick-backs to correctional services officials, sought to prevent parliament
and the Special Investigating Unit from releasing a report containing
information about the scandal. Minister of correctional services Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
allegedly also sought to keep the report under wraps, sparking tension with
Vincent Smith, the chairman of parliament's portfolio committee on
correctional services. As a result, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe had to
intervene. Smith confirmed that Bosasa had demanded
that the report be kept "confidential", but denied Mapisa-Nqakula's alleged role in the attempted cover-up.
The investigating unit confirmed that Bosasa's
lawyers wrote indicating "that they (Bosasa)
believed the proposed presentation was unlawful". In February the
company also launched "legal proceedings to stop the questioning of some
witnesses and the investigation itself. The SIU has agreed not to question
witnesses until the finalisation of the (court)
proceedings." The unit's report details how Bosasa
won contracts from correctional services. Unit head Willie Hofmeyr released
parts of the report to the portfolio committee this week, including
allegations that Bosasa paid kick-backs
to top government officials. One official allegedly accepted a house, cars,
an overseas trip for his daughter and rugby season tickets to watch the Blue
Bulls in exchange for awarding tenders. The company, which was repeatedly
defended by former correctional services minister Ngconde
Balfour, received tenders worth close to R2-billion for services in IT,
security and prison meals, and in some cases it allegedly wrote tender
specifications. Hofmeyr said the official, who is still to appear in court
and may not be named, was instrumental in awarding four tenders worth
hundreds of millions of rands to a single service provider and its affiliates
between 2004 and 2006. Smith said he took Bosasa's
demand to parliament's legal advisers, who advised him to reject it on the
basis that he did not have a copy of the unit's report. "I don't know
whether by the 'report' they meant information on the report or the report
itself. They said that because they had issues with the report, it must be
kept confidential," Smith said. "We said to them, in two paragraphs
crafted by the legal department of parliament, that it (their demand) does
not arise because we don't have the report." It is not clear how Bosasa came to know about the pending release of the
report to parliament. Smith, an ANC MP, denied there were tensions between
him and Mapisa-Nqakula, over the unit's report. But
government and parliamentary officials said that the differences between the
two were resolved at a meeting with Motlanthe, the leader of government
business in parliament. The meeting paved the way for the portfolio committee
to hear the unit's findings. Motlanthe's office confirmed the meeting took
place but denied that the report was discussed. His office said Motlanthe met
the two after questions were raised about Mapisa-Nqakula's
"relationships" with the portfolio committee. It did not specify
the nature of the relationships that led to the hastily convened meeting.
"The report was not a subject of discussion at this meeting, but the
functioning of the committee as a consequence (of) relationships,"
Motlanthe's office said. Smith said the meeting discussed the need for Mapisa-Nqakula to attend ANC portfolio committee
caucuses. Mapisa-Nqakula denied harbouring
concerns over the handling of the report. She declined to answer questions
about the meeting with Motlanthe, nor would she confirm whether it had taken
place. Her spokesman, Sonwabo Mbananga,
said the minister " has never lost a night's sleep" over the report
and "has never and still does not harbour
concerns with regard to processes that are unfolding ..." Sources said Mapisa-Nqakula had stunned ANC MPs when she disclosed
that she had attended a function sponsored by Bosasa
at an East London prison a week before the Special Investigating Unit briefed
the portfolio committee about the company's alleged shady deals. "The
ministerial team only found out in the vote of thanks that one of the
sponsors was Bosasa," Mbananga
said. Bosasa spokesman Papa Leshabane
questioned the report's findings because the company had not seen the report
and had not been afforded an opportunity to respond.
September 28, 2009 Sunday
Independent
Damning evidence of corruption and rigging of prisons tenders worth close
to R2 billion has been uncovered by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU),
with bidders drafting their own specifications. Current and former
Correctional Services officials could be prosecuted. The Star can reveal that
the unit was due to tell MPs last week that it had found evidence of
collusion between Correctional Service Department officials and suppliers. It
also found evidence that the bidders which won the multibillion-rand
contracts - which include providing prison kitchen and security services -
had drafted their own tender specifications. The SIU has since 2006
investigated a security company with close links to ANC politicians and top
government officials. The company, known to The Star, won prisons contracts
worth more than R1.6 bn. The SIU said it had referred its report to the
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) "for (a) decision regarding
prosecution". NPA spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke
said the relevant prosecutions staff had not yet seen the report. A copy of
the report, which recommends disciplinary action against 22 officials, also
went to Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula earlier this month. It is understood that
the report could also implicate top ruling party politicians and government
officials, hence the sensitivity. Mapisa-Nqakula
failed to renew the unit's contract when it expired in April. The department
has contracted the SIU since 2002 after a judicial commission uncovered
large-scale corruption in prisons. The SIU reported in its submission that
R6.9 million has already been recovered through its investigation into the
200 most expensive contracts in the department, while assets of R12m were
under restraint and a R4.8m saving had been made. It also said "further
asset seizures (are) pending". SIU head Willie Hofmeyr said last night
he did not want to comment at this stage. DA MP and shadow minister of
correctional services James Selfe said that, given
the extent of corruption and malpractices that were uncovered by the SIU, he
would like to ask Mapisa-Nqakula why investigative unit's
contract had not been renewed. "The SIU is obviously a very
cost-effective way of uncovering corruption in the department, which appears
to be widespread," he said.
July 24, 2009 Bua News
A final report on the investigation into tenders amounting to over R1.6
billion will be submitted to the Department of Correctional Services in
August. This was revealed during a meeting between Special Investigating Unit
(SIU) head Willie Hofmeyer and Acting National
Commissioner of Correctional Services, Jennifer Schreiner, to update her on
progress made in the investigation. The investigation was commissioned by
Correctional Services in March 2006. It covers major tenders entered into by
the department for nutrition services, CCTV security, fencing and television
monitors. In 2005, government approved a R436 million contract to install
high perimeter fences with detectors and close circuit television systems at
all correctional centres in the country. The
department also approved the implementation of an R88 million security system
at 66 correctional centres, including 36 centres of excellence and 30 other high-risk prisons.
This was an attempt by the department to curb prison escapes. The SIU is also
probing a deal between the department and a company known as Bosasa Operations to provide food for South Africa's main
prisons. Since 2004 Bosasa Operations and its
subsidiaries have been awarded tenders totalling
more than R1 billion. The investigation further covers contracts authorised during the tenure of former Commissioner of
Correctional Services Linda Mti. The meeting
between Mr Hofmeyer and Ms Schreiner also reflected on a number of critical
elements of the fight against fraud and corruption, including disciplinary
actions and criminal investigations against officials who had been fingered
in the probe. Meanwhile, in a further effort to stamp out corruption within
the department, Correctional Services Minister, Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula, last week announced the suspension
of Commissioner Xoliswa Sibeko. The department, in
conjunction with the Department of Public Service and Administration, is
investigating the conduct of Ms Sibeko who was said
to have been renting an expensive residence at the expense of the tax payer.
A report in that regard is expected in two weeks time.
May 3, 2009 The Times
Public safety is under “serious threat” after delays by the Department of
Correctional Services in implementing a back-up plan to replace hundreds of
private security staff at prisons. Sondolo IT,
which has provided electronic security at 66 prisons around the country since
2006, withdrew staff who had been manning 72 control rooms at 6am on Friday
morning, when its contract with the department officially ended. Sondolo IT, which runs the surveillance systems at among
others, Pretoria Central Prison, Johannesburg Prison, Cape Town’s Pollsmoor
Prison and Durban-Westville Prison, on Tuesday submitted a comprehensive risk
assessment report to the department ahead of its withdrawal. It warned that
prison security could be breached and not detected as all prison-based
control centres, five regional ones and one
national system would no longer be staffed. Furthermore this could: Require
an already burdened correctional services to deploy more staff in problem
areas; Result in mass escapes as prisoners took advantage of the lack of
surveillance; and Lead to collusion between warders and inmates, especially
with regard to the smuggling of contraband as the parties became aware that
they were no longer being monitored. Correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela yesterday
admitted that the department had failed to put in place adequate
alternatives. “We do acknowledge that we could have managed this contract
better so that by the end of it we could have put our own internal capacity (in
place),” Wolela said. But he added that the
electronic system was but one security measure and that other security
systems were in place. Sondolo IT spokesman Papa Leshabane said there had not been any response from the
department to the risk assessment report that it had provided. “It is a
serious security threat,” he said, adding that the lack of an efficient
surveillance system would lead to “ security
breaches, such as escapes and the movement of contraband”. Sondolo IT was awarded the tender to supply an integrated
security system, which includes 96km of fencing and 1200 detectors in 47
prisons. The company had been in charge of monitoring 1850 cameras, 850
biometric readers, and handling 600 metal detectors and 640 access control
systems. Leshabane said the staff handling the
equipment required training which could take between three and six months. To
date, the company has only “appraised” about 500 correctional services
employees — mainly senior managers — about the system. No training had been done,
but they had been given an “overview” of the system functions, Leshabane said. Wolela said the
department was now relying on stepping up personal security as a contingency
plan. “In some regions we are getting people who have got capacity or
potential to learn to manage the control centres,”
he said. He added that the department had advertised more than 600 posts for
the management of the control centres and was
hoping to conclude the recruitment drive by June.
Kutama Sinthumule Correctional
Centre
Makhado, Limpopo
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
Feb
23, 2022 iol.co.za
Contracts for SA's billion-a-month private prisons negotiated 'in bad
faith
AT
LEAST three correctional services officials who negotiated the multi-billion rand contracts for the two private prisons in
South Africa that are managed by American and British companies, left the
department to join the same entities after the deal was signed and sealed.
The 25-year contract for Mangaung Correctional
Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State was awarded to British security firm, G4S.
It was signed on March 24, 2000, and is expected to
end on June 30, 2026. The second 25-year contract for Kutama
Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Limpopo, was
awarded to American company, GEO Group. It was signed on August
16, 2000, and will end on February 15, 2027. G4S partnered with a
local consortium, Mangaung Correctional Contracts
(MCC), while GEO Group roped in a local consortium, South African Custodial
Services (SACS). The government is currently spending almost R1-billion a
month for the 5 952 prisoners incarcerated in these facilities. It has come
to light that three correctional services officials, Pieter Jordaan, Steven Korabie and
Frikkie Venter, negotiated and signed the contracts
with G4S and GEO Group before joining the same companies after the contracts
were signed. Venter joined Mangaung as managing
director, while Korabie occupied the same position
in Kutama. When Korabie
left Kutama, he was replaced by Jordaan.
Venter and Korabie later presented Mangaung and Kutama's plans and
ambitions to Parliament's correctional services portfolio committee and its
standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on October 12, 2001, on behalf
of their new employers. Former Scopa chairperson, Themba Godi,
yesterday told Sunday Independent that the prison contracts were negotiated
in bad faith. "We weren't aware at the time that these officials are the
same ones that negotiated these contracts on behalf of our government.
Although there was no legislation for a cool-off period at the time, what
they did is morally unacceptable. As you see, the terms and conditions of
these contracts are in favour of these companies. "There
is no doubt in my mind that these officials negotiated in bad faith and for self interests. These private firms, that are foreign
owned, are making a killing while our government is losing billions in these
deals," said Godi. A senior correctional services
official known to the paper said: "Now it explains why numerous
complains of human rights abuse, prisoners torture and forced injections
reported in these prisons are ignored and covered up by the department of
correctional services (DCS), because these prisons have bought their
protection by employing these former DCS officials". However,
correctional services spokesperson Singabakho
Nxumalo yesterday said it was "misleading and totally unfortunate to
insinuate that former officials", who were recruited by the two
companies running the prisons, "could have played an influential role in
the process for self-gain". "DCS could not prevent citizens from
being employed by other entities merely because they are ex-DCS
officials," he said. Nxumalo added that the department "has made it
its obligation to investigate matters in conflict with the act, such as
ill-treatment of inmates or human rights abuse". He said Mangaung was fined R748 718.81 for breaking the rules,
while Kutama was slapped with a penalty of R1 566
453.39 to date for all violations of their contracts where prisoners were
allegedly abused and violated. "South Africa is a democratic state and
the treatment of inmates can never be outside basic human rights."
Award-winning journalist Ruth Hopkins published a book in 2020, titled The
Misery Merchants: Life and death in a private South African prison, which
exposes the alleged corruption and cover-ups of human rights abuse at Mangaung Correctional Centre. The Sunday Independent
investigation has uncovered similar alleged human rights abuse in Kutama. A former prison official this week told the
newspaper how he had witnessed abuse and torture during his tenure at the
prison. "The prisoners are tortured, beaten up and sometimes are being
force-injected with drugs that turn them into robots or zombies. They won't
even remember their names after they are injected. That injection is being
used as a weapon; any prisoner who would like to raise his concerns or lodge
a complaint against some of the officials, is threatened with the
injection," the official said. When Justice Edwin Cameron visited Kutama on April 24, 2012, some of the complaints the
prisoners raised to him included:
* Unlawful solitary confinement, where one prisoner claimed he was kept in isolation
for 42 days and beaten up, though nothing happened to his abuser;
*
A prisoner had his arm broken after a security gate was closed on him;
*
An offender was brutally assaulted by officials, then bribed with "two
cold drinks" not to report the case;
*
Another prisoner was shot by an official and also prevented from opening a case;
*
Another prisoner lost his three front teeth after being assaulted by
officials and never taken to hospital; and,
*
Another prisoner was assaulted and left in crutches, while another had his
thumb broken.
The
facility is supposed to be high security, but Justice Cameron was told how
two prisoners managed to successfully escape from there in 2009. Another
former employee at Kutama told us this week that
"there's too much corruption and maladministration in that prison".
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago
yesterday confirmed that three of the prison directors and two managers are
under investigation after they allegedly applied for Covid-19 relief funds. Kganyago said the centre was
paid R6.4-million until SIU investigation established that "the whole
application was flawed" and their application even included the names of
two officials who are no longer working there. "The money was recovered
in full and paid back with interest. This is a prison
and their workers were not disadvantaged during the lockdown as none of them
lost their income as the government is servicing their contract in full with
the facility," he said. Nxumalo confirmed there was an SIU investigation
at Kutama into allegations around Covid-19 relief
funds, and that the matter "was dealt with and resolved". "The
management responsible for the facility was informed that they do not qualify
to submit the UIF claim because the company did not close for a period of two
weeks. The contractor initiated a process of paying back the money to the
UIF," he added.
May 19, 2016 citizen.co.za
Inmate set for R200K private prison payout
A man jailed in 2010 sustained bruises, abrasions and injuries to his
private parts when a group of nine prison guards came to his cell and
assaulted him. The owners of a private maximum security prison in Louis
Trichardt have been ordered to pay R200 000 in damages to an inmate who is
serving a life sentence for murder and rape after he was severely assaulted
by a group of guards five years ago. Judge Nomsa Khumalo ordered South
African Custodial Management, which operates the Kutama
Sinthumule Maximum Security Prison in Louis
Trichardt, to compensate prisoner Takalani Neluheni
for his ordeal at the hands of prison guards, who unlawfully assaulted him in
February 2011. Neluheni, who arrived at the prison
in 2010, sustained bruises, abrasions and injuries to his private parts when
a group of nine prison guards came to his cell and assaulted him. He told the
court he was forced to undress before a prison guard searched him anally, he was smacked in the face and one guard jumped
on his private parts. His hands were cuffed behind his back and his legs
shackled before he was thrown down a staircase. He was then grabbed by the
legs and dragged with his head bumping against the staircase before being put
in solitary confinement for 42 days. He said he was kept in segregation most
of the time, although he was “not a violent person”, never instigated a fight
and felt prison officials just wanted to humiliate him and destroy him
mentally. He claimed his tea was at one stage poisoned and that he was fed
ARVs and told he was “crazy” when he complained about it. Although Neluheni complained to a prison doctor that he had been
assaulted and his injuries were noted in a report, the prison denied that he
was assaulted at all.They insisted Neluheni, who had 11 previous convictions for assault,
was a violent troublemaker who tried to set his cell alight, assaulted two
prison guards and had to be brought under control. Neluheni
was charged with assaulting the guards, but was later acquitted. Judge
Khumalo accepted Neluheni’s evidence, although she
said he was clearly bitter and tended to exaggerate. She rejected the
evidence of the prison officials as contradictory and said they had clearly
loathed Neluheni and fabricated a version to cover
up the assault.
October 14, 2010 Times Live
The Correctional Services Department is reviewing its partnership with the
companies running two of the country's private prisons at a cost of
R700-million a year. This was revealed yesterday in Parliament by the
department's director-general, Tom Moyane. MPs
yesterday lashed out at the department for paying two companies a combined
R700-million a year to run jails for it - though it had spent the same amount
to build a new prison in Kimberley, in Northern Cape. The contracts between
the department and the owners of the private prisons are in force for the
next 25 years. "Twenty-five years of paying R700-million [a year]? I'm
sure I can buy facilities with that amount of money if I save the
money," said Vincent Smith, chairman of the parliamentary portfolio
committee on prisons, and an ANC MP . In response, Moyane admitted that the public-private partnerships were
not meeting the department's expectations. "The current public-private
partnerships, one in Mangaung and one in Limpopo,
do not address, fundamentally, the needs of the organisation,"
he said. He told the committee that Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has
started a policy review of the partnerships with the aim of giving the
department full control of the private jails. The department is not involved
in their management.
June 10, 2010 Sowetan
MORE THAN 3000 prisoners at the privately owned Kutama-Sinthumule
Maximum Prison in Louis Trichardt, Limpopo, were left hungry yesterday after
a wildcat strike by warders. The 300 strikers forced prison management to
flee the premises, while an estimated 3500 inmates did not receive their
food. The warders allegedly demanded that the prison management implement
occupation specific dispensation (OSD). The strike also raised concerns about
prisoners living with HIV-Aids because they allegedly could not get their medication
and food yesterday. “The sick prisoners are suffering,” Golden Miles-Bhudu, president of the South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights said yesterday. “This is
very sad. Prisoners should not suffer because of differences between employees
and management. The strike will compromise the immune systems of those
suffering from HIV-Aids because they need food and medication on a regular
basis.” The strikers, mainly members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights
Union (Popcru), went on a wildcat strike after
accusing management of delaying the implementation of OSD. The union said it
wanted management to implement a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and
Arbitration (CCMA) resolution, which dictated that workers be paid according
to the OSD agreement. Popcru claimed the union was
never consulted before members received their salaries. Popcru
spokesperson Norman Mampane said prison management
had failed to act in terms of the recommendations of the OSD and that was why
members had gone on strike. Mampane said the union
had negotiated in good faith but management had undermined them by dragging
its feed and not honouring
the agreement. “We negotiated in good faith but when it came to
implementation management acted in bad faith. This is a clear demonstration
of abuse of power by management. They have provoked the workers,” Mampane said. Popcru provincial
secretary Morris Sithole said they were unhappy about management’s failure to
properly implement OSD. He said the union was equally not impressed by
members forcing prison authorities off the premises. “We are going to engage
prison management so that they can recalculate the figures and pay the
workers on an acceptable scale. We also appeal to workers to return to work,”
Sithole said.
December 17, 2009 Sowetan
THE management of the Sinthumule-Kutama Private
Prison in Louis Trichardt is in the spotlight over the escape of two
dangerous prisoners. The police said the two prisoners escaped on Tuesday
morning and no valid explanation of how they escaped has been given. The two,
Johannes Khoza, 30, and Esho Naibe,
24, both from Zimbabwe, were convicted of different crimes ranging from
murder, rape, robbery and housebreaking to indecent assault. Makhado police
spokesperson Captain Maano Sadike
said they had launched a manhunt while investigating the escape of the two
prisoners. Khoza was convicted of murder and robbery in April 2006, while Naibe was serving a jail term for rape, housebreaking and
indecent assault. It is alleged that the two used a saw to cut through the
burglar bars and escape through the electric and barbed wire fence. The
prison authorities said they suspected the escapees used a saw but also
indicated they were still waiting for the surveillance report from camera
operators. Head of prison security Nyiko Mathebula denied allegations that
the security system in the prison was weak since they failed to detect the
escape. “We hope the report will detail what really happened
,” he said. The police said their manhunt was still under way and they
appealed to those who know the suspects to help them.
December 16, 2009 The Zimdiaspora
A 40-year-old Zimbabwean man is one of two prisoners who escaped from
South Africa’s Kutama Sinthumule
Correctional Centre Tuesday morning, the department of Correctional Services
revealed today. Manelisi Wolela,
the department’s spokesperson, said in a statement released this morning that
Chico Naibe, a Zimbabwean national and Johannes Antonnio Khoza (29) were the two “dangerous criminals”
that escaped from Correctional Centre during the early hours of Tuesday
morning, adding that a massive manhunt was already underway to nab the duo,
who were serving life sentences. “The two were serving life sentences for a
range of violent crimes including murder, armed robbery and rape,” said Wolela. The management of the prison, which is located in
South Africa’s northern province of Limpopo, reported that the offenders
apparently sew burglar bars and used clothing to jump over the high perimeter
fence. “The Department of Correctional Services is appealing to members of
the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in efforts to bring the
escapees back to lawful custody,” added Wolela.
“Members of the public are however warned not to try to apprehend the
fugitives as they are considered extremely dangerous. “The public should
contact the SAPS's emergency number 10111 or contact the police's lead
investigator on this matter, Captain Sudiki 082 565
8233.” Wolela said that the Department of
Correctional Services had instituted an urgent investigation that must be
concluded within two weeks to establish circumstances that led to the escape.
“Subject to the findings, the Department may institute penalties in line with
the contractual obligations on contractors managing privately run
correctional centres. The penalties are aimed at
discouraging security lapses in the privately run correctional centres.”
May 24, 2006 Cape Times
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour
wants another remission of sentence for petty criminals, but says a decision
is ultimately the president's prerogative. A presidential decree in 2005 saw
30 000 prisoners released from jails countrywide. But he was also critical
about public/private prisons which he accused of being run "as if they
are fiefdoms". The proposed public finance model prisons was a better
option than the public private prisons which Balfour said racked up huge
costs to run.
April 5, 2006 SABC News
About 12 nursing staff of the Kutama-Sinthumule
private prison in Limpopo are staying away from work saying they don't feel
safe in the prison. They have joined about 200 striking warders in the labour action. The labour
withdrawal by the nurses comes as the Provincial Parliament Portfolio
Committee on Safety and Security meets to discuss the safety of prisoners.
The striking warders are continuing to protest 500m away from the prison. A
minimum number of warders resumed for duty this morning after an appeal by
management for them to come back to work. The other striking warders say they
will continue their stoppage until their demands are addressed. The
Parliament Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security is still locked in a
meeting with prison management in a bid to ensure safety of prisoners and the
surrounding community.
March 31, 2006 SABC News
More than 200 striking prison warders at the Kutama
Sinthumule private prison outside Makhado in
Limpopo say they won't return to work until they receive outstanding salary
allowances. The protest follows yesterday's resolutions between the workers
union, Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru),
and management. Late yesterday, the parties agreed that workers would resume
their duties pending the arbitration process. The workers are unhappy about
their housing and danger allowances. They say these have not been paid to
them since 2002. They say management must pay them these allowances before
they can resume their duties.
March 1, 2006 Mail & Guardian
Order has returned to the privately owned Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Makhado, Limpopo, a
spokesperson said on Wednesday -- this after a strike by prison officials led
to the death of a 37-year-old inmate and the injury of another. South African
Custodial Management MD Stephen Korabie said the
Department of Correctional Services and the police were called in on Tuesday
night to help manage the situation. Limpopo police spokesperson
Superintendent Ailwei Mushavhanamadi
said prisoners also went on strike and rubber bullets were fired to stop them
running away at 9.45pm. "Extensive damage was caused to one of the four
units of the centre that accommodates approximately 1 152 maximum-category
offenders," said Korabie. He said plans were
being made to find alternative accommodation for about 800 prisoners while
the damaged unit was being restored. Korabie said
the Department of Correctional Services had loaned the centre some staff to
help provide basic custodial and security functions, pending the settlement
of the dispute with the warders.
Mangaung Maximum Security Prison
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Group 4
Feb
23, 2022 iol.co.za
Contracts for SA's billion-a-month private prisons negotiated 'in bad
faith
AT
LEAST three correctional services officials who negotiated the multi-billion rand contracts for the two private prisons in
South Africa that are managed by American and British companies, left the
department to join the same entities after the deal was signed and sealed.
The 25-year contract for Mangaung Correctional
Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State was awarded to British security firm, G4S.
It was signed on March 24, 2000, and is expected to
end on June 30, 2026. The second 25-year contract for Kutama
Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Limpopo, was
awarded to American company, GEO Group. It was signed on August
16, 2000, and will end on February 15, 2027. G4S partnered with a
local consortium, Mangaung Correctional Contracts
(MCC), while GEO Group roped in a local consortium, South African Custodial
Services (SACS). The government is currently spending almost R1-billion a
month for the 5 952 prisoners incarcerated in these facilities. It has come
to light that three correctional services officials, Pieter Jordaan, Steven Korabie and
Frikkie Venter, negotiated and signed the contracts
with G4S and GEO Group before joining the same companies after the contracts
were signed. Venter joined Mangaung as managing
director, while Korabie occupied the same position
in Kutama. When Korabie
left Kutama, he was replaced by Jordaan.
Venter and Korabie later presented Mangaung and Kutama's plans and
ambitions to Parliament's correctional services portfolio committee and its
standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on October 12, 2001, on behalf
of their new employers. Former Scopa chairperson, Themba Godi,
yesterday told Sunday Independent that the prison contracts were negotiated
in bad faith. "We weren't aware at the time that these officials are the
same ones that negotiated these contracts on behalf of our government. Although
there was no legislation for a cool-off period at the time, what they did is
morally unacceptable. As you see, the terms and conditions of these contracts
are in favour of these companies. "There is no
doubt in my mind that these officials negotiated in bad faith and for self interests. These private firms, that are foreign
owned, are making a killing while our government is losing billions in these
deals," said Godi. A senior correctional
services official known to the paper said: "Now it explains why numerous
complains of human rights abuse, prisoners torture and forced injections
reported in these prisons are ignored and covered up by the department of
correctional services (DCS), because these prisons have bought their
protection by employing these former DCS officials". However,
correctional services spokesperson Singabakho
Nxumalo yesterday said it was "misleading and totally unfortunate to
insinuate that former officials", who were recruited by the two
companies running the prisons, "could have played an influential role in
the process for self-gain". "DCS could not prevent citizens from
being employed by other entities merely because they are ex-DCS
officials," he said. Nxumalo added that the department "has made it
its obligation to investigate matters in conflict with the act, such as
ill-treatment of inmates or human rights abuse". He said Mangaung was fined R748 718.81 for breaking the rules,
while Kutama was slapped with a penalty of R1 566
453.39 to date for all violations of their contracts where prisoners were
allegedly abused and violated. "South Africa is a democratic state and
the treatment of inmates can never be outside basic human rights."
Award-winning journalist Ruth Hopkins published a book in 2020, titled The
Misery Merchants: Life and death in a private South African prison, which
exposes the alleged corruption and cover-ups of human rights abuse at Mangaung Correctional Centre. The Sunday Independent
investigation has uncovered similar alleged human rights abuse in Kutama. A former prison official this week told the
newspaper how he had witnessed abuse and torture during his tenure at the
prison. "The prisoners are tortured, beaten up and sometimes are being
force-injected with drugs that turn them into robots or zombies. They won't
even remember their names after they are injected. That injection is being
used as a weapon; any prisoner who would like to raise his concerns or lodge
a complaint against some of the officials, is threatened with the
injection," the official said. When Justice Edwin Cameron visited Kutama on April 24, 2012, some of the complaints the
prisoners raised to him included:
* Unlawful solitary confinement, where one prisoner claimed he was kept in
isolation for 42 days and beaten up, though nothing happened to his abuser;
*
A prisoner had his arm broken after a security gate was closed on him;
*
An offender was brutally assaulted by officials, then bribed with "two
cold drinks" not to report the case;
*
Another prisoner was shot by an official and also prevented from opening a case;
*
Another prisoner lost his three front teeth after being assaulted by
officials and never taken to hospital; and,
*
Another prisoner was assaulted and left in crutches, while another had his
thumb broken.
The
facility is supposed to be high security, but Justice Cameron was told how
two prisoners managed to successfully escape from there in 2009. Another
former employee at Kutama told us this week that
"there's too much corruption and maladministration in that prison".
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago
yesterday confirmed that three of the prison directors and two managers are
under investigation after they allegedly applied for Covid-19 relief funds. Kganyago said the centre was
paid R6.4-million until SIU investigation established that "the whole
application was flawed" and their application even included the names of
two officials who are no longer working there. "The money was recovered
in full and paid back with interest. This is a prison
and their workers were not disadvantaged during the lockdown as none of them
lost their income as the government is servicing their contract in full with
the facility," he said. Nxumalo confirmed there was an SIU investigation
at Kutama into allegations around Covid-19 relief
funds, and that the matter "was dealt with and resolved". "The
management responsible for the facility was informed that they do not qualify
to submit the UIF claim because the company did not close for a period of two
weeks. The contractor initiated a process of paying back the money to the
UIF," he added.
Mar
4, 2021 ofm.co.za
'No
comment' on stabbings at Mangaung private prison
British
multinational security services company, G4S, is mum on the alleged surge in
stabbings at the notorious Mangaung private prison and
told OFM News they are not permitted to address media without the
Correctional Services Department’s say so. Anonymous sources at the private
prison – formally known as the Mangaung
Correctional Centre (MCC) on the outskirts of Bloemfontein – allege yet
another G4S employee was attacked by an inmate at the weekend, fuelling concerns over the increasing dysfunction at the
largest maximum private prison in South Africa, with roughly 3000 of some of
the most dangerous inmates in the country. This latest incident coincides
with the release of The Misery Merchants: Life and Death in a Private South
African Prison by British journalist Ruth Hopkins, which seeks to explain the
causes of the rising dysfunction at the “valuable” private prison.
Furthermore, it comes a month after OFM News reported on the murder of a
26-year-old inmate, who succumbed to injuries sustained in a violent stabbing
incident in late January 2021. The deceased’s mother said at the time that
she was not informed by the prison that her son had been attacked and had
died. Whilst stating that they are not allowed to comment on specific
incidences with permission from DCS, G4S South Africa maintains that the
private prison is well run and subject to “daily, monthly and annual
oversight” by DCS. In early 2020, the North Gauteng High Court ordered DCS to
avail its damning report to the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals)
regarding allegations of torture and assault at the prison following media
reports – specifically by Hopkins – regarding complaints from prisoners to
the Wits Justice Project in 2013. The report found that there had indeed been
instances of abuse at the prison with Cals considering pursuing further legal
challenges against G4S and BCC as a whole. Cals is
also calling for an urgent review of privately-run prisons in South Africa. A
lot has been said regarding the ownership of the prison, with several Free
State politicians and private institutions affiliated with or having a share
in the Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), the concessionaire company
responsible for the management of the MCC.
Mar
4, 2020 iol.co.za
Horrific
Mangaung Prison abuse laid bare
Pretoria
- From a person who died in the “dark room” of the Mangaung
Prison and the death recorded as “suicide”, to three prisoners forcibly
injected with anti-psychotic medication. These were some of the disturbing
preliminary findings in the long awaited report
following a 10-month investigation of the facility. These happened while it
was under the control of G4S and Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts in 2013.
The Department of Correctional Services made its preliminary findings in June 2014, but kept the report under wraps until now. The
Centre for Applied Legal Studies fought a fierce legal battle for the release
of the report. This followed claims of torture and the inhumane treatment of
inmates at the privately-run prison. In late 2013, the Centre for Applied
Legal Studies became aware of reports made public by the Wits Justice Project
that people incarcerated at the prison had been tortured by staff. At the
time, the Mangaung Correctional Centre was run by
British security company G4S as part of a public-private partnership.
Following the reports and other serious allegations, Correctional Services
took control of the prison and began its investigation into the allegations.
The department 10 months later concluded its investigations and handed
control of the prison back to G4S. It is one of the largest privately run
prisons in the world. The Centre for Applied Legal Studies requested access
to the information related to the investigation using the Promotion of Access
to Information Act. After six years and following a recent order made by the
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, the centre was
finally given access to the report held by the department. It requested the
report as part of its work on prison conditions and its interest in the state
outsourcing its constitutional obligations to private companies. The report
detailed several incidents, including Taser guns bought apparently without
any of the officers being trained to use them, to the alleged overdosing of
prisoners on their medication. In addition to the report, the Centre for
Applied Legal Studies also received the long-awaited response from
Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts. The entity had subcontracted the running
of the prison to G4S. The response detailed either bare denials that the
incidents ever occurred or denials of any wrongdoing. The Centre for Applied
Legal Studies said that while it was pleased that it was finally able to
review the full report, attorney Sithuthukile
Mkhize said the investigations still seemed incomplete. While the report sets
out the incidents and invites the companies to give reasons why they should
not be held in violation of their duties, they remained mum on any final conclusion. “There is more than enough information
here to question why. We are considering pursuing further legal challenges as
well as a review of privately run prisons in South Africa,” Mkhize said. The Mangaung Correctional Centre made headlines in 2013 as
being a “hell-hole prison” with allegations of inmates being tortured and
even killed. Some of the incidents which the department referred to in its
report is the incarceration of inmates in the “dark room”. It is said that
the cell consists of a cement bed. According to the report it does not have a
toilet, lighting, windows or ventilation. While the G4S investigation report
records a death as suicide, a pathologist referred to it as a head wound. In
its answer to these allegations, Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts said it
was not a dark room, but a “quiet room” which had lighting and ventilation.
It said an inmate did commit suicide there, but the incident was investigated
and later resolved. It said that since 2008 the “quiet room” was no longer
used to accommodate inmates, but as a storeroom. In defending the preliminary
finding that several inmates were forcibly injected with anti-psychotic
drugs, the private prison body simply said it either no longer had the
implicated inmates’ files to check, or in other cases, it said this never
happened. It was said that one of the inmates suffered from schizophrenia and
refused to take his medication, but not even in his case were there records
that it was administered by force. Regarding the Taser gun allegations, it
admitted that two of these were bought, but one was returned as it was
defective. The other was kept in the armoury room
as the private prison was not satisfied with its quality. It said it
initially bought the two guns to evaluate its use as a non-lethal weapon.
Feb
11, 2020 dailymaverick.co.za
Human
rights lawyers win access to Mangaung prison riot
report
After
years of stonewalling by ministers and officials in the Department of
Correctional Services, human rights lawyers from the Centre for Applied Legal
Studies have gained access to a report into riots at the Mangaung
private prison. It took six years of missed deadlines and ignored letters
before the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) finally won access to a
report into violent riots at the Mangaung Prison in
Bloemfontein, compiled by the Department of Correctional Services. The
facility is one of two privately-run prisons in South Africa and houses 3,000
high-security prisoners. While the company running the prison, G4S, opposed
the application by CALS on the grounds that the report would contain
confidential information it is not allowed to make public, Pretoria High
Court Judge Pierre Rabie ruled that its counsel could not put up a single
legal ground for the report to be exempted from the Promotion of Access to
Information Act. It was reported that in October 2013 the Department of
Correctional Services had to take over control of the prison from G4S
following a spate of knife attacks and hostage situations when close to
two-thirds of the staff were dismissed. It was reported that the takeover was
necessitated because G4S had “lost control” of the facility. CALS requested
access to the report held by the Department of Correctional Services, after claims
that prisoners incarcerated at Mangaung had been
tortured by security personnel, attorney Sithuthukile
Mkhize said. “We will still have a discussion about what action we will be
taking after receiving the report, but… it is highly likely that we will
be taking some form of legal challenge against both the Department of
Correctional Services and G4S,” she said. “In late 2013, CALS became aware of
a number of complaints made public by the Wits Justice Project that people
incarcerated at the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional
Centre had been tortured by the private security company’s personnel.
Following these reports and a number of other
serious incidents at Mangaung, the Department of
Correctional Services took control of the prison and began an investigation.
Within 10 months, the department had concluded its investigation and handed
control back to G4S.” Since then CALS has been trying to get access to the
results of this investigation. In November 2014, the Department of
Correctional Services confirmed the takeover in response to a question by DA
MP James Selfe. The department said the takeover
was “in the interest of safety and security” as the management of the prison
“had lost effective control”. It added that the minimum number of staff were
not on duty at the prison and uncertified officers were performing “custodial
functions.” The care of prisoners was “seriously compromised”. “That
unsatisfactory situation had led to several unacceptable events and
occurrences at the [prison], such as, holding of an official hostage by
offenders, burning of mattresses, beddings, work stations
and breaking of toilet pots. The offenders and officials were stabbed and
there was general decline in the maintenance of discipline and order in the
[prison],” the department said. At the time, notices for breach of contract
were issued by the department but these were disputed by G4S. In May 2015,
the department indicated in response to another question by Selfe that the “investigation into alleged abuse at the
prison was ongoing as responses from the Bloemfontein Correctional Consortium
(BCC), the entity that subcontracted the management of the prison to G4S,
have prompted a number of further investigations”. According to Rabie’s
judgment, the department simply ignored an application in August 2014 by CALS
for access to this report. An internal appeal against this de facto refusal
for access was also refused. CALS then turned to court, arguing that it was
in the public interest for it to gain access as they believed the report would
reveal serious contraventions of domestic and international law and describe
conditions of detention that were cruel, inhuman and degrading and amounted
to torture. The department did not oppose the legal action, indicating it
would abide by the ruling of the court. G4S was initially not cited in the
legal action, but the company applied to intervene in the matter. G4S’s legal
team asked for the matter to be heard behind closed doors. This was dismissed
by the court. G4S claimed that the report contained information that “may not
be disclosed”. This included the names and identity markers of employees,
inmates, doctors, nurses and health workers; witness
signatures of incident reports, police case numbers and plans, diagrams and
photos of the prison. G4S offered to make a redacted portion of the report
available to CALS, saying that giving full details would have an adverse
impact on those mentioned, but also on the “safety and security of inmates,
employees and potentially the broader public”. Rabie ordered a punitive cost
order against G4S to “mark the court’s disapproval” of the way the case was
conducted. In a statement following the judgment, G4S said, “It is
anticipated that G4S South Africa’s investment will end in 2026, when [the
current] contract expires. In line with the G4S Group strategy, G4S South
Africa has no plans to invest further in correctional services in South
Africa. “In 2013, G4S South Africa received reports of alleged mistreatment
of prisoners at Mangaung prison and, in response, proposed
that a retired judge carry out an independent investigation into the
allegations.” The statement added that the judge had found there was no
evidence to support the allegations.
Dec 2, 2019 citizen.co.za
Private
prison in Bloem has minister ‘concerned’ after
allegations of torture
Justice
and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola
has expressed concern after learning of ‘disturbing allegations’ of torture
of inmates at the Free State’s Mangaung
Correctional Centre. This comes in the wake of the Centre for Applied Legal
Studies (Cals) today filing an application before the High Court in Pretoria
ordering the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to publicly release a
report on alleged torture of prisoners – for years kept under wraps. The Cals
application is expected to lift the lid on the most inhumane conditions and
incidents of brutality which have taken place at Mangaung,
outside Bloemfontein, since 2013. “The minister is disturbed to hear of such
allegations of torture, said to have taken place at the Mangaung
Correctional Centre,” said ministry spokesperson Chrispin
Phiri. “Should these be proven to be true, this surely goes against the
values and principles of what our first democratically elected president,
Nelson Mandela, stood for. “We will be working closely with the Judicial
Inspectorate Commission to address any breach of the law and malfeasance that
could have taken place at the Mangaung Correctional
Centre.” According to human rights attorney Sithuthukile
Mkhize, Cals – a law clinic and civil society organisation
based at Wits University – which has been investigating brutality claims made
by prisoners, has for over five years sought legal avenues to force the DCS
to grant it access to the report under the Promotion of Access to Information
Act (PAIA). Mkhize said that by late 2013, Cals became aware of numerous
reports made public by the Wits Justice Project, pointing to torture of
inmates at Mangaung by G4S staff. G4S is a
British-owned security company, awarded a contract by the DCS to run the
prison. While the DCS has not responded to the Cals application, the G4S
filed papers opposing it on the grounds that the report contained “sensitive
information” with names of inmates and company employees, with G4S only
willing to release a redacted version if ordered by the court. “A bare
assertion that some sensitive information exists is insufficient to deal with
the G4S burden to substantiate this ground of refusal,” maintained Cals in
its heads of argument. “G4S also seeks to invoke confidentiality provisions
of being a private body, which is not legally permissible.” Said Mkhize:
“Opposing the release of the report begs the question of what issues either
the department or G4S are trying to keep hidden. “The PAIA process is obviously
flawed if these powerful entities can cause years’ worth of delays before a
matter is even heard by the court.” She said when reports surfaced on serious
incidents of torture of inmates at Mangaung, the
DCS took control of the prison and began an investigation. But 10 months
later, the DCS handed back control of the prison to G4S in what Cals has
described as “one of the largest privately run prisons in the world”. The
case raised “important questions around the right of access to information
and the consequences of outsourcing constitutional obligations to the private
sector”. Despite Cals in 2014 having used PAIA to get information relating to
the DCS investigation into Mangaung, the DCS failed
to respond to the initial request and relied on an internal decision not to
grant access. “Cals then approached the high court in early 2015 in an
attempt to overturn this internal decision and to gain access to the
investigative report,” read the Cals application. “Since then, the matter has
suffered a number of delays with G4S asking to be
joined to the litigation, failing to file answering papers on time despite a
court order and launching an application to have the proceedings closed to
the public. While the application was firmly dismissed by the court, it has had
the effect of frustrating the legal process.”
Dec 7, 2018 mg.co.za
South Africa: G4S wants secrets kept secret
British multinational security company G4S wants the
high court in Pretoria to suppress evidence that could reveal widespread
torture and abuse of prisoners at its Mangaung
prison in Bloemfontein. G4S has demanded that the medical files of inmates
are not to be made public. The inmates allege that the multinational tortured
and injected them against their will with antipsychotic drugs. The medical
files could contain evidence of these transgressions. G4S still holds the
contract to run Mangaung prison, despite being
forced to hand over control to the state for 10 months in 2013. That year a
Wits Justice Project investigation into the prison revealed widespread use of
electroshocking, assaults, forced medication and lengthy isolation of
inmates. After the exposé, the department of correctional services (DCS)
announced an investigation into the allegations and promised to release a
report within weeks. The department has refused to release the report or to
give reasons for not releasing it, despite numerous requests. In 2015 the
Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand
brought a freedom of information case against the prisons department to
demand the release of the report. The department has ignored the court case,
which, under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, means that the judge
would have to rule in the department’s absence. But in 2017, just before that
could happen, G4S asked to be added to the case as an interested party. G4S’s
first demand in this interlocutory procedure was that the court should not
order the disclosure of the medical files unless the hearing is in camera.
G4S also wants its affidavit to remain confidential because, according to
court documents, it contains “confidential information pertaining to medical
records, and/or names and/or other personal details of employees of G4S,
certain policies followed by G4S … and commercially sensitive information
relating to G4S”. But the Promotion of Access to Information Act provides for
the release of information by the department with redacted personal details.
G4S has not responded to questions about why it wants the court to review the
files behind closed doors. It has previously said it is contractually bound
to refer all media questions to the department. Logan Maistry,
spokesperson for the department, responded to a list of detailed questions by
saying: “DCS confirms that this was an interlocutory application, brought by
G4S. DCS did not participate in this interlocutory application, and will
abide by the decision of the court. We await the court decision.” Yet in a
separate civil case that the G4S inmates started against the company, aimed at
securing compensation for the alleged suffering they have endured, the
company claimed it was not in possession of the medical files, adding that it
was not the company’s responsibly to get the information. The company
demanded that the inmates provide it with the files. In an email exchange
between G4S’s lawyers at Norton Rose and the inmates’ lawyers at the Legal
Resources Centre, Hannes Marais of Norton Rose wrote: “It is not for our
client to obtain the requested information from third parties.” The third
party he was referring to is Faranani Healthcare,
the medical corporation under whose watch inmates were allegedly forcibly
injected with antipsychotic drugs and electroshocked. In 2013 and 2014, the
department put together a task team consisting of top-level officials who
were to investigate the allegations of electroshocking, the unlawful use of
violence, suspicious deaths in the prison and a host of other irregular
issues. Their work was highlighted in the department’s magazine, Mangaung: Keeping it Tight. According to this
publication, the task team interviewed inmates, accessed medical files and scrutinised other records at the prison. In one interview
a researcher claimed there were many irregularities at the prison’s pharmacy.
After a year, the department issued a report with preliminary findings that
was sent to G4S. The company and shareholders to the prison contract drafted
a response to these findings and this document was leaked to the Wits Justice
Project. In the report the company mentioned repeatedly it was attaching the
medical files of inmates. The medical records were not part of the leaked
report, but it clearly indicated the company was in possession of the
inmates’ medical files, which it shared with the department. Three
independent sources at the department, who did not want to be named, claimed
that the department intentionally “disappeared” evidence of the allegations
of torture and forced medication. The department failed to respond to this
allegation, despite repeated requests. Zach Modise, the former national
commissioner of the department, led the task team’s investigation. In 2017,
just before he retired, he was accused of corruption and defying requests
from the treasury relating to a department tender with the company Fence &
Gates, which has a contract with the G4S-run prison. Inmates at Mangaung prison have repeatedly tried get their medical
files from Faranani Healthcare, which runs the
prison hospital and pharmacy. One inmate, who fears retribution if he gives
his name, said: “It’s very difficult to access your medical files. The prison
management told me it is confidential and therefore I need to go through a
legal representative, which I can’t afford.” The judge is expected to rule
shortly on G4S’s request to file affidavits and hear arguments in camera
about whether medical files should be released by the department. G4S
declined to comment on this story. Private prisons were built with a view to
addressing unacceptable levels of prison overcrowding. Kutama
Sinthumule prison in Makhado is run by the American
GEO group and G4S runs Mangaung prison. The prisons
cost the state about R800-million a year to run, which is about 5% of the
department’s budget. The government planned to privatise
a further four prisons, but in 2011 the then minister of correctional
services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,
abruptly reversed that decision, following a policy review. She said: “We are
determined that the current system of milking the resources of the state and
abdicating the state role to run correctional centres
should be reviewed and done away with.”
Feb
14, 2015 theguardian.com
A group of South African prisoners are suing G4S over abuse they allege they
suffered in a Bloemfontein prison run by the British security company.
British law firm Leigh Day, which is representing the 43 prisoners, sent an
urgent letter to the company’s UK headquarters in Crawley on Thursday. The
inmates claim they were given electric shocks, forcibly injected with
anti-psychotic drugs and held in isolation cells for up to three years. The
firm is also acting for the mother of an inmate who died in custody. “The
instructions we have received from our clients attest to a culture of abuse
and fear that appears to have been endemic in Mangaung
Correctional Centre for years,” the letter to G4S reads. “Many allegations
involve inmates being taken to solitary cells where there are no cameras,
stripped naked and forced on to a metal bed with water thrown on them before
being repeatedly shocked with electric shields, including to the head and
genitals.” If the claim is successful, it will be a landmark case for
prisoners held by the biggest security provider in the world, with revenues
worth £7.4bn. G4S won a 25-year R15bn (about £820m) contract from the South
African government to construct, run and manage the prison in 2000. Leigh Day
has asked G4S to respond to the claim within three months and it is expected
to go to the high court in London later this year. In October 2013, the Wits
Justice Project exposed allegations that so-called emergency security team
warders routinely assaulted inmates. Prisoners, warders and other sources
have claimed that the EST, also known as the Ninjas, would kick and punch the
inmates and shock them with electric shields, after dousing them with water.
Leaked video footage shot inside the prison apparently showed an inmate with
no record of mental illness being forcibly injected with anti-psychotic
drugs. Twelve of Leigh Day’s clients claim they were forcibly injected. This
violence at Mangaung prison was exacerbated by the
dismissal of about 330 warders in September 2013 after a lengthy strike. When
the situation in the jail descended into chaos, the government’s department
of correctional services took control of the prison. In August last year, G4S
was handed back control of the prison. A government investigation into the
alleged abuse has been finalised but not yet
released. Leigh Day attorney Tessa Gregory said: “This is not the first time
that G4S and its subsidiaries, operating across the globe, have faced
accusations of human rights abuses. It is important that companies, even
those as large as G4S, understand that there will be consequences if they do
not respect the human rights of those they are paid to provide security to.”
G4S has denied the allegations. A spokesman said: “G4S insists on the highest
standards of care and we do not tolerate the mistreatment of prisoners. When
these allegations arose in 2013 the department for correctional services
investigated the claims and returned the operation of the facility to us on 1
August 2014, having not presented any evidence to substantiate the
accusations.”
Nov
8, 2013 allafrica.com
The
Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services has made its views clear on the
establishment of more private prisons in the country. Speaking during a
Committee Meeting, the Committee Chairperson, Mr
Vincent Smith, said: "You can leave here knowing that the sentiment of
the Portfolio Committee is that we are not in favour
(of such outsourcing)." The meeting received a briefing on the state of
correctional services in the country from the Minister of Correctional
Service, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele, who Mr Ndebele told the Committee that the Department now had
doubts about the effectiveness of private contractors running prisons. He was
referring to allegations of torture and brutality made by employees at Mangaung prison, in the Free State. Mangaung,
and Kutama Sinthumule
prison, in Limpopo, are the only privately operated prisons in the country.
Employees allege that prisoners were forcibly injected with anti-psychotic
drugs and subjected to electroshock therapy. The Department of Correctional
Services took control of Mangaung early last month
after a hostage-taking incident and labour unrest.
The multi-party Portfolio Committee made it clear that outsourcing should be
reconsidered. Chief Deputy Commissioner of incarceration and corrections Mr James Smalberger said:
"At the institution, we have almost 3 000 offenders and you have one
person there that is assigned to do certain things." Mr
Ndebele also said the two privately-run prisons were very expensive and were
expected to cost the state about R20bn over the 25 years of the contract. Mr Smith said over the 25 years of the contract - which
ends in 2025 - R800m would be spent on the two prisons each year, meaning
that the total bill would be close to R20bn. "We (South Africa) could
have built 18 prisons for that amount of money. Is there a need to look again
at this issue?" Mr Smith asked. Acting
National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Ms Nontsikelelo Jolingana, said
the public-private partnerships had not been carefully thought through and
the Cabinet had decided not to proceed with four other private prisons. Mr Ndebele added that the private prisons were an experiment
that did not work. In the UK, where private prisons were pioneered, he said
"They are coming to a similar conclusion that they do not work very
well." Committee Member Mr James Selfe said a controller from the Department was supposed
to monitor the situation in private prisons. "What was the controller
doing at Mangaung?" he asked. Ms Jolingana replied that
allegations against the controller were part of the broader investigation
into the private prison at Mangaung.
Nov
5, 2013 ewn.co.za
CAPE
TOWN – The decision to allow private security companies to run prisons is an
experiment which has not worked very well, Correctional Services Minister
Sibusiso Ndebele said on Tuesday. The department took control of the Mangaung Correctional Centre in
the Free State in October from private security company G4S. The facility was
hit by controversy following a hostage crisis there. Reports also emerged
that inmates were being forcibly injected with anti-psychotic medication and
warders were using electroshock techniques to control prisoners. Ndebele says
only two prisons in the country were run by private companies. Mangaung was one of them. “I think the United Kingdom is
also coming to the same conclusion as us - it doesn’t work very well. We were
supposed to have six prisons being run by private companies, but we only had
two. Cabinet took a decision that we wouldn’t go beyond the two that we had.”
In 2000, government entered into a private-public partnership to maintain and
manage the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
27
October 2013 bbc.co.uk
South
Africa G4S prison staff accused of abuse Leaked video footage shows a
prisoner resisting an injection. Staff at one of South Africa's most
dangerous prisons, run by British firm G4S, have been accused of
"shocking" abuses and of losing control. The South African
government has temporarily taken over the running of Mangaung
prison from G4S and launched an official investigation. It comes after
inmates claimed they had been subjected to electric shocks and forced
injections. G4S says it has seen no
evidence of abuse by its employees. The BBC has obtained leaked footage
filmed inside the high security prison, in which one can hear the click of
electrified shields, and shrieking. It also shows a prisoner resisting a
medication. Researchers at the Wits Justice Project at Wits University in
Johannesburg say they have collected accounts of electric shocks and beatings
from almost 30 prisoners during a year-long investigation. Africa
correspondent Andrew Harding: "S African authorities say the situation
at the maximum security Mangaung Prison is shocking
and out of control" "Some said they would pass out when the shocks
became too intense," said Ruth Hopkins, a journalist with the Wits
Justice Project. She said inmates also complained about suffering broken
limbs and other serious injuries. One former prisoner told the BBC electric
shocks were used as "torture", while a sacked security guard said
water was thrown over inmates to increase the impact of the charge. "If anything
specific is brought to us that is a specific case you have my commitment...
that we'll investigate fully and completely” Andy Baker G4S for Africa A
lawyer for some of the prisoners has condemned a culture of impunity amongst
prison staff, according to the BBC's Africa correspondent Andrew Harding. G4S
has blamed an upsurge of violence at the prison on a labour
dispute, our correspondent adds. More than 300 guards there were sacked this
month after going on an unofficial strike. Nontsikelelo
Jolingana, the acting national commissioner of the
Department of Correctional Services, told the BBC her department had launched
a formal investigation into the claims of abuse. The South African prison
authorities announced last month they were temporarily taking over the running
of the prison near Bloemfontein, in the central Free State province, after
the private security contractor "lost effective control of the
facility". Andy Baker, regional president of G4S for Africa, said
administering and prescribing injections was not the domain of G4S staff, but
of a separate medical staff. When asked about allegations of electric
shocking and beatings, he told the BBC there had "never been an abuse of
this type or nature" to his knowledge. But he said: "If anything specific
is brought to us that is a specific case you have my commitment and the rest
of our organisation's commitment that we'll
investigate fully and completely."
25
Oct 2013 Mail & Guardian
Forced
anti-psychotics and shock therapy are par for the course at the correctional
facility. The Mangaung prison in the Free State,
run by the beleaguered multinational private security company G4S, is
allegedly forcibly injecting inmates with antipsychotic medication and using
electroshocks to subdue and control prisoners. This is according to at least
35 sources – prisoners as well as security guards, prison and health
officials – and based on medical records seen by reliable sources, legal
documents and video footage shot inside the prison. A 12-month-long
investigation into the prison has uncovered video footage shot inside the
prison hospital that shows prisoners being given medication against their
will, as well as the use of electroshocks and assaults on prisoners. •Mangaung prison: Drugs, shock and torture by 'Ninjas' The medication causes memory loss, muscle rigidity
and other serious, potentially life-threatening side effects, and by law is
only meant to be used under strictly controlled circumstances. But these
drugs have been used at the prison up to five times a week, sometimes on
inmates who show no sign of being psychotic. Letters from prisoners tipped
off the Wits Justice Project about conditions at Mangaung
prison, sparking a year-long investigation that has involved talking to
warders, inmates, department of correctional services officials and others at
the prison. The department assumed command of the prison on October 9, after
it established that the management had lost "effective control over the
prison" following a lengthy spate of stabbings, riots, strikes and a hostage-taking.
The department was obliged to step in after G4S dismissed 330 warders and
replaced them with uncertified staff, which is unlawful. 'I feel like a
zombie' Inmate Sello Mogale looks like a big, burly
baby, curled up in the foetal position on a bench
in the visiting section of Mangaung prison earlier
this month. A warder shakes his arm and he opens his eyes. He slowly gets up
and walks to the interview room with unsteady steps. Mogale is followed by
inmates Willem Vis, Joseph Maruping, David Kambhule and Aubrey Buthelezi. The men, dressed in the
light-blue prison uniform, crowd into the small interview room. Vis says:
"It feels like my jaw is falling off. I feel dizzy, my muscles are
spastic and my memory has gone." The other inmates nod as Vis relates
the side effects of the anti-psychotic medicine called Clopixol
Depot. He says that the prison started injecting him halfway through 2012
when he complained of hearing voices in his head and a general feeling of
depression. Scenes from video footage shot inside Mangaung
prison. (Supplied) When he refused the medication, the prison's emergency
security team – known in the jail as the "Ninjas" or the
"Zulus" – was called. They are a 16-man team who are called when
the warders cannot handle the situation. Vis alleges that six of them, armed
with electroshock shields and Tasers, held him down on the bed, while a nurse
injected the antipsychotic drugs into his buttocks. Mogale, who was sentenced
to life for rape in 2008, arrived at the maximum security prison in 2012. He
says that the forced monthly injections of Clopixol
Depot started soon after his arrival, when he complained of depression and
suicidal thoughts. "I sleep all the time, I cannot stay awake. My mouth
is dry and my hands are jumpy. I feel like a zombie or a robot." Medicated:
A staff member at the hospital, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear
of losing employment, told the Wits Justice Project that Mogale and Vis are
given Clopixol Depot once a month. According to the
hospital worker, inmates who are considered aggressive, difficult or
suffering from mental problems are also given Modecate
and Risperdal, antipsychotic medication with known side effects. Fourteen
members of the emergency security team, who spoke to the Wits Justice Project
on condition of anonymity, said they helped restrain inmates who were
injected involuntarily, up to five times a week. They also said that the
injections are authorised through the command
structures – which all lead to the head of the prison, Johan Theron. A video
shot on July 24 by the emergency security team, which is legally required to
film its actions, reveals how Bheki Dlamini, who is serving a 21-year
sentence for armed robbery, is forcefully injected. The team leader of the
emergency security team announces that Dlamini is disturbing the peace and
good order of the prison. "We are moving him to healthcare in order to
get his medication." Although Dlamini understands and co-operates with
all their instructions, the team leader claims: "You can see the state
of mind of the inmate. It is very risky." Life-threatening: In
the hospital a warder says that the injection has been approved. When they
tell Dlamini he will be injected, he protests loudly. "I am not a
donkey, I am not an animal." He yells: "No, no, no" while the
security team grabs him, twist his arms behind his back and drag him to a
room where they wrestle him to a bed and a nurse is called. According to the
hospital worker, who has seen Dlamini's medical records, he was given an
antipsychotic drug called Etomine, which has a
potentially life-threatening side effect known as neuroleptic malignant
syndrome; it causes muscle rigidity and fever and in extreme cases it can
lead to strokes and coma. Dlamini is not psychotic or schizophrenic. Attorney
Egon Oswald spoke to Dlamini on October18. "Dlamini had complained to a
warder that he did not like the vienna sausages
they served him; he demanded that the warder should bring him 'real
meat'," said Oswald. "They got into an argument and the warder told
him the emergency security team would deal with him." The video stops as
the "Ninjas" pin Dlamini to the bed and they call out to a nurse.
According to Dlamini the nurse initially refused to administer the drugs, as
she claimed it was unlawful to inject someone without a prescription. But the
"Ninjas" insisted she inject the inmate, as it had been approved.
Dlamini allegedly suffered from the side effects of the drugs. "He
complained about fidgeting hands, dryness of the mouth, neck spasms and a
feeling of lethargy," said Oswald. Involuntary medication: According
to the Mental Health Care Act, forced medication should leave a lengthy paper
trail. It is only allowed if a guardian, spouse or family member has given
permission or, if they are unavailable, a healthcare worker. Also, two
healthcare practitioners must assess the mental health of the inmate. They
have to report to the head of the health institution, who can then decide to
treat the patient involuntarily based on the clinicians' report and the
approval of family members or guardians. Involuntary medication is only
permissible if the patient is a danger to himself or others and if he is
incapable of making an informed decision. Professor Jan van Rensburg,
associate professor at the department of psychiatry at the University of the
Witwatersrand, said: "It is illegal to medicate patients with these
drugs if they are not experiencing a psychosis. The side effects are very
severe. If the prison is medicating the inmates with these drugs just because
they are aggressive or as a measure of crowd control, then there is a huge
problem." Inmate James Mothulwe, who is
serving a 35-year sentence at Mangaung prison for
rape and murder, is debilitated by the side effects of the drugs. They
forcefully injected him for five years, he says. Mangaung
Correctional Centre outside Bloemfontein is at the centre of a storm of
allegations of torture and forced medicating. (Supplied) In 2004, Mothulwe experienced extreme side effects: he was no
longer able to straighten his neck, he lost all feeling in his left hand, he
could no longer walk normally and he had fits that caused him to pass out.
Despite his prolonged protests, he claims the prison kept ordering the
injections. In 2007, Mothulwe needed a neck brace
because his neck is in spastic paralysis. He was still wearing it in April,
when the Wits Justice Project interviewed him. His body makes involuntary
spastic movements; there is excess saliva dribbling from his lips. Mothulwe says he has lost feeling in the left side of his
body. Unexplained deaths: Modecate,
Risperdal and Clopixol Depot are known to have
severe side effects; in extreme cases they can cause strokes and cardiac
arrest. Sudden unexpected and unexplained deaths as well as seizures and
brain damage are listed as side effects of Modecate.
In 2012, pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson was fined more than
$1.1-billion for downplaying and hiding risks associated with the potentially
life-threatening side effects of Risperdal, which include increased risk of
strokes, death in elderly patients, seizures, weight gain and diabetes. Clopixol Depot is equally dangerous, with side effects
ranging from strokes to involuntary movements of face and tongue, muscle
stiffness, drowsiness and sleepiness. When these side effects occur, the
medication should be stopped or decreased. In 2009, the prison is alleged to
have gone a step further and injected a warder. Former G4S employee Pule Moholo was taken hostage in 2009 by 11 inmates. After a
16-hour ordeal, Moholo and his colleagues were
freed and then whisked off to the prison hospital. Moholo
said: "I was told not to talk to anyone, especially the media. A nurse
injected me in the buttocks. I hardly remember anything after that moment. I
had to be taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair. Two days went by in a
blurry haze. I lost my appetite and felt very stiff and disconnected, like a
zombie." When Moholo finally came to, he said,
G4S had started a disciplinary procedure to dismiss him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forced
medicating is 'illegal' and unacceptable: Nontsikelelo Jolingana,
the acting commissioner of the department of correctional services, said
the department is carrying out an investigation into the problems at the Mangaung prison. The forced medicating of inmates is, she
said, "illegal and unacceptable". "We are also investigating
the [prison] controller to see why these very serious and shocking
allegations were not reported to us," said Jolingana.
She said the official appointed to oversee and report on the prison's
compliance with the law is supposed to report any legal infringement. The department has been aware of some of
the allegations as the 2010 confidential department report was seen by then-
minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Jolingana said she would have to try to find this
information. Commenting on G4S, she said: "I can't predict any scenario,
but this is very serious."
The
department will compile a preliminary report by the end of October.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prison
operator claims everything is done by the book: "G4S denies any
assaults or use of torture, either by means of electroshocking or medical
substances, on inmates. It also has a zero tolerance policy against the use
of undue or excessive force. "The clinical management and diagnosis of
inmate patients are managed by a reputable third-party medical facility,
which treats a patient's medical information as confidential. G4S therefore
has no access to the specific medical records of inmate Bheki Dlamini. The
medical practitioners are bound by ethical codes and the law. "G4S and
its personnel are not involved in the decision to apply, nor do we apply
medication. We have not witnessed the illegal application of medication and
do not condone it. "Emergency support team operations are
meticulously recorded and subject to review by DCS [the department of
correctional services]. "The solitary confinement room, referred to as
the dark room, was built as part of the concession contract and was never
used as a torture room. Since 2002, it has been used as a storeroom.
"Inmates have unrestricted and confidential access to the DCS
controller, employees from the office of the inspecting judge, the director,
healthcare personnel and psychologists, with whom they can log complaints and
raise concerns. "If any laws were broken, DCS would have strongly acted
against G4S. We are taking legal advice to address the serious defamatory
allegations made against G4S."
October
10, 2013 globalpost.com
S.Africa to supervise
troubled privately-run prison. South Africa has placed a prison run by a private
British security firm under state supervision following two hostage takings
in a year, officials said on Thursday. "The contractor has lost
effective control of the facility," Prisons Commissioner Nontsikelelo Jolingana said in
a statement after inspecting the Mangaung
Correctional Centre near the central city of Bloemfontein. Jolingana said he was appointing an interim manager to
oversee the running of the prison, which is currently operated by Britain's
G4S security firm, citing a "a worrying deterioration of safety and
security." The move came a week after four inmates at the facility held
hostage a female employee for over 12 hours. The woman was reportedly an
administrative assistant standing in as a guard after more than 300 wardens
were sacked for an illegal strike several weeks ago. She was grabbed by four
inmates armed with improvised weapons as she watched over some 70 prisoners
and held for some 12 hours before police could free her. In November 2012,
two inmates took a nurse and doctor hostage at the same facility, releasing
the nurse quickly and freeing the doctor unharmed some 20 hours later.
"What we are looking is: is G4S able to get the institution back to
normality," said Zacharia Modise, a prisons commissioner in the Gauteng
province who was appointed as head of a task force to manage the prison.
"They have an issue of staff and an issue of security," Modise told
AFP. It was unclear how long authorities will remain in control of the
facility, said Modise, adding that "it's a temporary intervention"
and that a report on the prison is expected to be ready by Friday.
7
October 2013 Our Kingdom
Privatisation's flagship African jail is beset by
kidnap, rape and stabbings. In Oakwood Prison, England, hooch, drugs and
violence thrive. What's the problem? For-profit prisons? Or G4S? There's
trouble at Mangaung Correctional Centre, near
Bloemfontein, South Africa. Last Wednesday four inmates seized a female guard
and held her hostage for 12 hours. The next day another guard was stabbed at
the maximum security jail. The union blamed rising violence on G4S, the
company that operates the jail under a 25 year government contract. The
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union claimed that G4S had sacked more than
300 guards for striking in protest against dangerous conditions. The sackings
left the remaining workers and inadequately trained reserves at the mercy of
3,000 inmates, the union said. G4S denied that staff-prisoner ratios had been
jeopardised, insisting that replacement warders had
plugged the gap. credit: Wits Justice Project Last month the union sent G4S
management a detailed complaint listing 30 assaults on its members. The rape
of a nurse in her consulting room, four attacks with boiling water and
sixteen stabbings were the "tip of the iceberg", the union said.
The complaint (in my possession) accuses G4S of purging and intimidating
union officials at the prison. In May this year researchers at the
Johannesburg-based Wits Justice Project got their hands on a confidential
government report that listed 62 Mangaung inmates
who were detained in single cells for periods ranging from two weeks to three
years, against prison rules. Last week G4S Africa head Andy Baker told South
African media: "The Mangaung Correctional
Centre has an impeccable track record in maintaining the safety of both
inmates and employees." In Britain G4S braces itself ahead of what is
likely to be a shattering report tomorrow from the Prisons Inspectorate on
its flagship PFI prison — Oakwood, which opened in April last year. Oakwood,
a Category C Prison in the West Midlands, newly built to hold more than 1600
men, has been beset by problems from the start. The first prisoners moved in
before the builders had moved out.
This past August, Oakwood's Independent Monitoring Board reported that
• A "very high level of staff" had little or no prison experience,
and high rates of sickness left too few staff for front-line duties.• Cell
furniture was made of cheap fibre-board that was
easy to break up into
weapons.
• The stairwells, out of sight of CCTV cameras, were perfect for assaults.
• Hooch, drugs and mobile phones were plentiful; it was easy to throw
contraband into the grounds, there being only one perimeter fence instead of
the usual two.
• Self-harm was a worry — several prisoners had gone over the landing
railings; there were no nets.
G4S says Oakwood's 'vision' is to be ‘The Leading Prison in the World’ within
five years. Mangaung Prison, which opened in 2001,
South Africa's first public-private partnership, is "world class",
G4S executives told investment analysts in London last year. Three years ago
the South African Crime Quarterly invited G4S South Africa managing director
Frikkie Venter to argue the case for private sector prisons. Remarkably, he
said: "I think the first thing is that the concept is not strange in
South Africa. In the 1800s the private sector was involved in mine
prisons." Then he ran through the usual arguments: "The state
needed wanted an arrangement where they could pay off a prison, like you pay
off a mortgage," he said. The private sector: "has the ability to
be more innovative, not be bogged down by red tape, and the private sector
can change its systems overnight to ensure service delivery. Government
doesn't have that flexibility within its systems." Venter asserted that
a system of financial penalties ensured that taxpayers' interests were
protected: "Included in the contracts were penalties if the service
provider did not deliver as required. So at these PPP prisons service
delivery is guaranteed through a punitive structure." How does that work
in real life? The Department of Correctional Services has issued 29 penalty
notices totalling £90,000 against G4S for incidents
of violence at Mangaung since 14 September. Last
week Andy Baker insisted that each breach was an "unavoidable
accident" and G4S would be contesting the penalties. In a statement
issued yesterday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said:
"It ought to be a national scandal that private companies are being
handed huge amounts of taxpayers' money to profit from this rehabilitation
process. It is even worse when these companies sack workers for raising
issues regarding the conditions that they work under." Touching upon the
company's work with the Israeli government, COSATU claimed: "G4S's modus
operandi is indicative of two of the most worrying aspects of neoliberal
capitalism and Israeli apartheid; the ideology of 'security' and the
increasing privatisation of what have been
traditionally state run sectors." COSATU went on: "Security, in
this context, does not imply security for everyone, but rather, when one
looks at the major clients of G4S Security (banks, governments, corporations
etc) it becomes evident that when G4S says it is 'Securing your World', as
the company slogan goes, it is referring to a world of exploitation,
repression, occupation and racism."
October 14, 2010 Times Live
The Correctional Services Department is reviewing its partnership with the
companies running two of the country's private prisons at a cost of
R700-million a year. This was revealed yesterday in Parliament by the
department's director-general, Tom Moyane. MPs
yesterday lashed out at the department for paying two companies a combined
R700-million a year to run jails for it - though it had spent the same amount
to build a new prison in Kimberley, in Northern Cape. The contracts between
the department and the owners of the private prisons are in force for the
next 25 years. "Twenty-five years of paying R700-million [a year]? I'm
sure I can buy facilities with that amount of money if I save the
money," said Vincent Smith, chairman of the parliamentary portfolio
committee on prisons, and an ANC MP . In response, Moyane admitted that the public-private partnerships were
not meeting the department's expectations. "The current public-private
partnerships, one in Mangaung and one in Limpopo,
do not address, fundamentally, the needs of the organisation,"
he said. He told the committee that Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has
started a policy review of the partnerships with the aim of giving the
department full control of the private jails. The department is not involved
in their management.
January 20, 2010 Sowetan
AUTHORITIES at the Mangaung Private Prison outside
Bloemfontein have sent samples of food for forensic testing after five
prisoners landed in hospital with food poisoning. The prisoners who were
admitted to the local hospital have since being discharged. The incident
happened last week when four prisoners reported ill after lunch, according to
Mangaung Correctional Centre deputy controller MC Motsapi. Motsapi said 281
inmates were treated for runny stomachs. “Five out of 281 prisoners were
admitted to hospital but their condition was stable. No new cases have so far
been reported,” Motsapi said. The prison is one of
three private prisons in the country. The contract to run Mangaung
Private Prison was granted to GS4 Care and Justice Service. GS4 spokesperson
Leana Goosen confirmed the incident but said things
had returned to normal. She said the food consignment of the day was being
tested.
September 25, 2009 IOL
Nine prisoners at the Mangaung maximum security
prison in Bloemfontein damaged furniture and a building on Friday for unknown
reasons, police said. Inspector Harry Nagel said the group of men locked
themselves in a "school building" on the grounds and started to
break and damage chairs, tables, computers and the building's bulletproof
windows. "The building also sustained water and smoke damage."
Nagel said the prisoners were armed with picks, spades, garden forks and
screwdrivers. Police were called in and they negotiated with the men to come
out. "As the men started to surrender they were handed to the private
prison authorities," said Nagel. Police said one of the prisoners was
apparently slightly injured. Nagel said the reason for the incident was not
immediately known. It started around 1pm and lasted for three hours.
August 18, 2003
South Africa's private prisons and maximum security prisons have turned out
to be an enormous waste of money, energy and time. These are some of
the findings made by University of the Western Cape Professor Julia
Sloth-Nielsen, whose overview of policy developments in the Department of
Correctional Services was published recently as part of the Civil Society
Prison Reform Initiative's series of research papers. Sloth-Nielsen has
called for an investigation similar to that into the arms deal regarding the
tender process for existing private prisons. "The reason for prison
privatisation was mainly cost based," she
said. Privatisation, however, was costing the
Department of Correctional Services much more than it had bargained
for. In 2001/2002 it was projected that by 2004/2005 the existing
projects (those deemed viable by a prisons task team) would cost the
department R538-million - up from projections of R143-million in
2001/2002. "The department agreed that the decision had been
unwise, and that Treasury had at the time advised against the
transaction. "The decision to undertake the private prisons
projects was, however, a political one, according to the departmental
spokesperson." The official position currently appeared to be that
no more private prisons would be contemplated because of the inordinate and
unforeseen expense. Sloth-Nielsen said the concept of C-Max prisons was
introduced at a time when the Department of Correctional Services was characterised by the influence of American ideas in the
penal sphere. The intention was originally to create more of these
facilities, she said, but this was put on the backburner during 2001 because
it had turned out to be "a cost-intensive exercise".
According to Sloth-Nielsen, the new prison for "bad eggs", Supermax
near Kokstad, was an even more lasting testimony to the influence of American
penal philosophy and practice. "No impact analysis or land survey
was done, which explains why the facility has been built without a kitchen -
the site is too steep to transport food in the normal manner. "It
cost R360-million to build - 155% more than budgeted for."
Supermax - reserved for high-risk prisoners - was a "veritable Robben
Island on land" in terms of its inaccessibility for family visits.
In addition, the department had not been able to find enough "bad
eggs" to fill the prison. Now the department envisaged a series of
"new generation prisons" for medium and low-risk prisoners.
Four would be built within the next two years. Construction would rely on
local resources; empowerment and security would be people centred
and not technology based, Sloth-Nielsen added. They would be
strategically placed in areas most affected by overcrowding. The focus
would be on rehabilitation. (The Star)
August 4, 2003
A PROFESSOR of law has called for an arms deal-like investigation into the
awarding of contracts for private prisons. Professor Julia
Sloth-Nielsen of the University of the Western Cape said that the Department
of Correctional Services had admitted "impropriety" in the privatisation process yet nothing had been done about
it. She made these claims in a research document presented at a seminar
in Cape Town on Thursday. "If this matter is not being taken up by
any other investigative authority . . . this should be a priority of the
[Parliamentary Portfolio] Committee in the same way as the arms investigation
has been dealt with," she said. In the document Sloth-Nielsen
says: Initially seven contracts for private prisons were announced, but
only two have been constructed, Mangaung Maximum
Security Prison in Bloemfontein, contracted to a UK-based consortium, and the
maximum security prison in Louis Trichardt in Limpopo; The process of
awarding these contracts was hasty, with the first five tenders awarded
months before the legislation was tabled in Parliament; and The Department of
Correctional Services itself had noted, "with some acrimony", that
the people involved in the project design, contract-drafting and
negotiations, had upped and left soon afterwards - to take up senior
positions in the companies that had won the tenders. "Again, this gave
rise to considerable suspicion about the integrity of the process
itself," said Sloth-Nielsen. A task team, consisting of
representatives of Correctional Services and the Treasury, presented a report
to Parliament in November last year about the financial arrangements of
private prisons. "For a start, the official view appears to be
that the contracts were awarded without proper homework having been
done," she said. The actual cost per prisoner a day at the
Bloemfontein private prison is R132.20, compared with R93.67 a day for
prisoners in state prisons. "A debate about the morality of
housing 6 000 prisoners in the undeniable [comparative] luxury of uncrowded
new facilities, while 182 000 remaining prisoners are left to languish in
cells where sleeping by rote is the order of the day, is also required,"
said Sloth-Nielsen. "If indeed state officials (or former state
officials) benefited materially from the privatisation
processes, this must be exposed." Department of Correctional
Services spokesman Russel Mamabolo said on Friday
they needed more time to study the 58-page document before they would
comment. (Johannesburg)
March 4, 2003
The chairman of the South African Human Rights Commission visited the
privately-run Mangaung Maximum Security Prison
outside Bloemfontein on Tuesday to investigate alleged violations of
prisoners' rights. SAHRC spokeswoman Phumla Mthala
said Jody Kollapen would interview individual
prisoners and meet with prison authorities on Tuesday morning. Mthala said the investigation followed several complaints
by prisoners to the SAHRC's Free State office about, among other things,
detention conditions at the prison. The first complaints were received last
year. The aim of the investigation was to look at detention conditions and
verify the authenticity of the alleged human rights violations, Mthala said. Earlier on Tuesday Dr Motsoko
Pheko, deputy president of the Pan Africanist
Congress (PAC) and Member of Parliament, told Sapa that he planned to ask
Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana in
Parliament about alleged gang violence in Mangaung
Prison. Pheko said he had received complaints from
inmates who feared for their lives due to gang violence in the prison.
"When people are punished and sent to prison by court, they should be
allowed to serve their sentences without putting their lives at risk," Pheko said. According to Pheko,
the murder of a Mangaung Prison inmate last week by
a fellow inmate was gang-related. Mangaung Prison
is one of two private prisons in South Africa run by the British based
company Group 4. It has approximately 2928 inmates. (South African
Press Association)
February 27, 2003
An inmate of the privately-run Mangaung Maximum
Security Prison outside Bloemfontein died after an alleged assault by a
fellow prisoner, the prison confirmed on Thursday. The prison's managing
director, Frikkie Venter, said the deceased was allegedly assaulted in the
prison late on Wednesday afternoon. No weapon was used in the attack.
The injured prisoner was taken to the prison hospital where he died while in
a doctor's care. Venter said a team was already investigating the incident.
He was waiting for a report with full details. Captain Ernest Mayiki spokesman for the Free State police confirmed that
police were investigating a case of murder. Venter expressed his condolences
to the family of the deceased. Mangaung Maximum
Security, belonging to the company Group Four, is one of two
privately-managed correctional institutions in South Africa. It is situated
adjacent to the Department of Correctional Services' Grootvlei
Prison near Bloemfontein. Two convicts escaped from the prison on New Year's
Day. (South African Press Association)
January 1, 2003
Two reportedly dangerous convicts are at large after the first escape from a
privately-managed prison in South Africa on Wednesday. The prisoners
made their daring escape around 1 pm while working out in the gym of the Maung Maximum Correctional Facility near Bloemfontein,
Department of Correctional Services spokesman Russel Mamabolo
told Sapa. Both men were regarded as dangerous. Mamabolo said his department would conduct a thorough
investigation into the escape and expected a full report from the management
company that runs Maung Maximum, Group 4. Maung Maximum is one of only two privately-managed
correctional institutions in South Africa. The other is near Louis
Trichardt in limpopo. (South African Press
Association)
May 2001
A youngster caught stealing three mangoes out of hunger, recently spent four
months awaiting trial in a Johannesburg prison due to bungling by justice
officials, the country's top independent prisons' inspector revealed on
Friday. "This boy was prepared to plead guilty. It is
obvious the magistrate and prosecutor were not doing their job properly,"
Judge Johannes Fagan told guests visiting the new Mangaung
Maximum Security Prison outside Bloemfontein. He blamed prison
overcrowding on inept justice officials who fail to process cases
speedily. According to statistics from the Department of Correctional
Services, the country's 236 prisons, with an accommodation capacity of 102,
048 was housing about 170,168 inmates by the end of February. Nearly a
third of these, or about 64,000 individuals, were awaiting trial, Fagan
said. (News 24, South Africa)
|
