Prison abuses to be probed
2005-03-10 23:16
Cape Town - The judicial inspectorate of prisons will investigate allegations of human-rights abuses and possible corruption at Malmesbury Prison, said its national head of legal services on Thursday.
Kamraj Anirudhra said: "We view the allegations in a serious light and thank the department of correctional services for asking the special investigations unit to investigate."
The SIU is part of the national prosecuting authority.
Anirudhra said the JIP would form part of a task team involving the Human Rights Commission and the SIU.
"The SIU will hand their dockets to us on Friday and we will take it from there."
'Official acting unlawfully'
He said the SIU conducted a preliminary investigation and found that prisoners were being assaulted and their possessions, which included expensive takkies, weight-training equipment and even a computer, were being confiscated.
Anirudhra said it was suspected officials at Malmesbury might be acting unlawfully by not returning confiscated property, but this would be confirmed by further investigation.
The report from the SIU's chief forensic investigator said: "Since serious allegations of human-rights abuses were raised by inmates, we deemed it necessary to report these complaints to your office.
The unit will continue looking into claims of corruption and other irregularities."
The SIU was empowered in terms of a proclamation by President Thabo Mbeki in August 2002 to investigate serious maladministration in connection with the affairs of the department of correctional services.
Commission receives complaints
These included improper or unlawful conduct by departmental officials, unlawful appropriation or expenditure of public money or property and corruption among others.
Ashraf Mohamed, the provincial head of the Human Rights Commission, said they received a series of complaints that were channelled to them by the SIU.
He said: "We had a meeting on Friday, where we agreed that a multisectoral approach was needed to deal with the problems, both at the level of individual complaints and systemic issues, but the process would be driven by JIP."
Meanwhile, Jali Commission secretary Charles Frank said that during the commission's hearings in the Western Cape, Malmesbury did not fall within the commission's terms of reference.
Frank said: "Accordingly, no evidence with regard to that prison was heard."
The Jali Commission was set up to look into corruption and maladministration in the department of correctional services.
- SAPA