Dying prisoner set free
2004-03-15 15:21
Pretoria - The Pretoria High Court ordered the immediate release of a terminally ill prisoner on Monday, so that he can die at home.
Ordering the release of William du Plooy, 44, from Pretoria Local Prison, Judge Essop Patel sharply criticised the correctional services department for violating Du Plooy's right to dignity, and granted a punitive costs order against the department.
Du Plooy, suffering from leukaemia for the past seven years, was admitted to the prison hospital immediately after starting a 15-year jail term for armed robbery in September last year.
Although his doctor estimated in October he had between one and two years to live, his condition proved resistant to any treatment and had deteriorated to such an extent that he was now in the final stages of the disease and had only a few months to live, the court was told.
Du Plooy, assisted by Lawyers for Human Rights' Penal Reform Project, applied to the court after correctional services refused to release him on medical parole, claiming that he had "not met the criteria", but refusing to give any reasons or to explain what the criteria were.
Correctional services opposed his application, saying an official had visited him and had declared he was "still OK" as he could climb stairs and walk. The department insisted that he would only be released when it became clear he was at death's door.
His doctor, Dr Jeanine Lombard, said in a statement Du Plooy was in the final stages of his disease, had every little time to live, and was only receiving morphine for pain and treatment for constipation.
She said conditions in jail were not conducive to the proper control of his medication and he was exposed to other opportunistic diseases. He needed to see a doctor every day and required a diet of soft foods, which the prison could not afford.
She described Du Plooy as very weak and bedridden for most of the day and recommended he receive hospice care.
Judge Patel said correctional services' refusal to release Du Plooy on medical parole violated several constitutional rights, including the right to dignity, just administrative action, access to medical treatment and access to information.
He stressed the principals of "ubuntu" and the need to treat the terminally ill man with compassion, empathy and humaneness, saying his continued imprisonment would be a greater burden to Du Plooy because of his condition.
"His continued imprisonment violates his dignity and the punishment itself becomes cruel, inhuman and degrading. In my view the respondents' conduct was reprehensible," Patel said.
He ordered Du Plooy released under the care of Dr Lombard at the Pretoria Academic Hospital, and that he should be placed under the care of his wife, Susan, if released from hospital.
- SAPA