Jails like hotels, Parly told

2008-03-18 21:00

Cape Town - Hotel-like conditions that include television and public telephones in prisons are costing millions of rands and posing security risks, Parliament's correctional services committee heard on Tuesday.

"These criminals are watching TV the whole day, Muvhango, 7de Laan.

"Why are we not taking all those TVs and putting them in state hospitals so that the people there can forget about their sickness?" asked committee chairman Dennis Bloem.

"We are concerned about the privileges that these murderers are enjoying."

Telephones were allowing inmates with connections to organised crime syndicates to communicate with them, creating a security risk for the country, he said.

Bloem appealed to the Public Servants Association (PSA) to put the matter on its agenda.

No enforcement of rules

PSA chairperson for correctional services Pierre Snyman said there were no control measures in place to ensure that different categories of prisoners were granted their share of privileges, like recreation time and telephone calls.

This and lack of staff meant there was no enforcement of the rule stipulating that, for example, a high-risk "C" category prisoner may have only one telephone call a month, while a lower-risk "A" category one was allowed 12.

Snyman acknowledged that prisoners had "many, many" privileges, including "luxurious rooms".

"At some of the prisons, the communities are saying that they are like hotels. I don't want to go as far as saying that, but it is luxurious."

He said a system had to be developed to ensure that prisoners worked harder and contributed more to rehabilitation programmes before they could be granted more privileges.

"They must be in a position to explain to officials what they have learnt from or contributed to the rehabilitation programmes."

Bloom noted that during oversight visits to prisons, warders often complained of feeling more like inmates while prisoners saw themselves as officials.

"They think that they have more rights than prison officials."

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union general secretary Abbey Witbooi said that lack of training meant that warders did not make use of their authority.

No strict control

He said their members didn't understand that they had the authority, which they had to exercise."

He said it was difficult to delimit rights for different categories of offenders as prisons were a "mixed bag" and there were no strict control measures.

"Everybody is thrown into the same section, so how do you determine who's got this right and who's got that right? One rotten potato will affect the whole bag."

- SAPA