'Inmates think they're free'
2006-06-21 11:39
Cape Town - Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour hinted on Tuesday at a reduction of prisoners' privileges.
"They should know who's who in the zoo," he said during a national assembly debate on a report of parliament's correctional services portfolio committee.
"No offenders are going to tell us what to do," the minister added.
"We didn't collect them from the streets. We didn't invite them to come where they are now. They committed crimes, so we should treat them as such."
Balfour was reacting to a call from committee chairperson Dennis Bloem for privileges enjoyed by hardened criminals to be reviewed.
"Please help me so that we can do those things, take away those privileges," the minister told Bloem.
This would be done without being inhumane, stripping prisoners of their dignity, or taking away any constitutional rights, Balfour said.
'Inmates think they are free'
Bloem earlier said hardened criminals such as murderers and rapists should not enjoy the same privileges as other inmates.
"These people have done serious, serious crimes outside and when they land in prison they... all of a sudden know the Constitution, their rights in the Constitution.
"We must take away some of these privileges. They cannot sit and watch television and have a nice time in prison. It must be taken away, they must feel that: 'No, I have done something wrong'."
Bloem said some warders complained that prisoners enjoyed more privileges than they did.
"In some prisons these inmates think that they are free. They want to control members, law-abiding citizens.
"We must show them that we are sick and tired of escapes, of threatening our law-abiding citizens."
- SAPA