Men hesitant to reveal rape
2004-02-16 17:14
Pretoria - There was currently no means of protecting awaiting-trial
prisoners from rape in jail, the Jali Commission of Inquiry into
prison mal-administration heard on Monday.
"You can get a guy who stole a bread because he was hungry with
a serial rapist in one cell," Pretoria local prison social worker
Helena du Toit testified.
To rectify this, she said a system should be introduced of
classifying unsentenced inmates into different categories - as was
done with their sentenced counterparts.
Du Toit told the commission that sexual abuse was much more
prevalent among unsentenced prisoners than sentenced ones.
This had partly to do with the fact that overcrowding in their
section was much worse, and warders therefore had less control.
Du Toit testified she knew of no policy on isolating new prison
admissions vulnerable to sexual attack - such as gay and lesbian
people. Rape and sodomy were common complaints, and a policy needed
to be developed to deal with it.
"There needs to be research on a national level."
Tip of the iceberg
Questioned by evidence leader Graham Barlow, Du Toit conceded
that those sexual abuse cases reported to prison authorities were
most likely the tip of the iceberg. Men, especially, she said, were
hesitant to reveal they had been raped.
"Is it so, that while the death penalty may have been abolished,
being raped in prison is almost as bad given the prevalence of
HIV/Aids?" Barlow asked - to which Du Toit agreed.
The commission also heard evidence from two police members that
it was difficult for prisoners to lay charges against warders or
fellow inmates.
Inspector Hermanus Steyn said investigators did not have direct
access to prisoners, and had to rely on correctional services staff
to bring complainants to them. Steyn was formerly attached to a
police division solely probing offences arising from prisons.
"Would you agree that for a prisoner to lay a charge against a
warder or fellow prisoner is extremely difficult - and depends on
whether correctional services gives them that access?" Barlow
asked. Steyn conceded this was so.
"So if a warder doesn't allow a prisoner to lay a charge, you as
a policeman will never get to hear about it?" questioned Barlow.
"That is true," Steyn replied.
Another inspector, Eben Gerber, agreed that a police member's
powers to investigate were dependent upon the goodwill of prison
staff.
- SAPA