'Kid gloves off' at prisons
16/11/2004 23:27  - (SA)  

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Cape Town - The parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services will be embarking on a prisons oversight programme to root out corruption and lax security, it said on Tuesday.

It was concerned at the threat these posed to democracy and safety and security.

This comes after four people, including the head of C-Max prison in Pretoria, died in a failed escape bid on November 7 and the arrest of a department employee.

The oversight campaign would include a visit to C-Max on Thursday, followed by a number of similar visits to other prisons where corruption and lax security had been alleged.

It hoped to obtain a "holistic overview" of the problems, which would enable it to make the appropriate recommendations on long-term, effective interventions to parliament, the committee said in a statement.

"(The) time has come for us to stop treating these matters with kid gloves.

"Corrupt prison warders and prisoners cannot hold the country to ransom and their dangerous and reactionary efforts to unleash a reign of terror and perpetuate corrupt practices in prisons must be crushed by whatever appropriate means."

- SAPA

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