Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are at loggerheads over findings of an investigation into allegations of abuse of inmates of Indian descent, who were jailed for alleged crimes in Phoenix during the July 2021 unrest.
The JICS investigated complaints of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, which were alleged by detainees awaiting trial for murder and vigilantism.
The report into the matter identified complaints from Durban’s Westville Prison Medium A and Medium B.
In a statement, the JICS said only three of the 15 accused stood trial. Complaints emerged from all 15.
The report was released to the DCS and the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services in July 2022, a year after the unrest.
The JICS found there was substance to complaints of rape, inhumane and degrading treatment, inadequate food and meal times, non-adherence to religious meals, inmate-conducted medical examinations (amounting to unlawful assault), lack of hot water, malfunctioning public telephones, overpricing in the correctional centre tuckshop, and insufficient exercise time.
It also found that a juvenile inmate was wrongly placed with adults, despite being indicated as a juvenile on the detention warrant.
“The JICS further found that undue racial overtones underlying the disturbances in Phoenix might have influenced the way correctional services officials treated the complainants.
“In particular, the JICS found that, during the initial admission of the Phoenix accused, four female correctional services officials incited violence against them, using other inmates as instruments of harm.”
The investigation identified that, in their treatment of the accused, DCS officials transgressed the principle in the law of “deliberate indifference”, which amounted to “reckless disregard of the risk of harm to another”.
The spokesperson for JICS, Emerantia Cupido, said it was found that most DCS officials at Westville Prison Medium A did not wear their name identification tags, contrary to departmental standing orders.
“This hindered the identification of officials. In addition, acting unidentifiably perpetuates a culture of impunity.”
Cupido said the investigation found that, because of the Covid-19 pandemic and officials taking vacation leave, the Westville Prison management area was “ineffectively managed, with a low presence of trained staff on duty”.
DCS rejects findings
Speaking on the alleged rape, the spokesperson for DCS, Singabakho Nxumalo, said the area around the holding cell was well-lit and patrolled “at all times by officials”.
He said those cells held the accused in the Durban area for court processing.
He added that, if the rape took place in the holding cell, the victim “had sufficient opportunity to alert the unlock officials that were available at that time or the SAPS officials that were escorting him to Verulam or to the magistrate at court that he was sexually assaulted”.
He said the inmate had the option to open a criminal case with police at the Crisis Centre at RK Khan Hospital, “but instead a note was made in the Occurrence Book (OB) that the ‘complainant does not desire to open a case'”.
“Therefore, it can be deduced that the sexual assault, as alleged by the inmate, remains an allegation and cannot be interpreted as a fact, as portrayed in the JICS report.”
Nxumalo said that, as for the allegation of inhumane treatment, all in the Phoenix group were “at all material times incarcerated in one cell, except for inmate Govender, who was incarcerated separately by order of the magistrate.
As for the allegations that female DCS officials ill-treated the accused, he said a senior official “who happens to be male” was at the reception (holding cells) and “no incident of ill-treatment was reported”.
Nxumalo said:
He said the complaint of insufficient food was addressed with the inmates, adding that religious meals, including Halaal meals, were not being provided by DCS.
Instead, the department has a long-standing partnership with the Prison Muslim Board of SA, which regularly visits the facility. He said Muslim diet foods were not prepared, together with normal inmate food.
Nxumalo said a JICS investigator “misrepresented facts” in the claim that they observed an inmate taking the blood pressure of a DCS official.
He also denied that inmates managed medical files, saying no details of inmates seen by the investigators handling files were provided.
“Our conclusion was that the investigator misdirected himself and made biased observations and findings, which are not backed up by statements of fact.”
JICS hits back
However, in a JICS statement, Cupido said: “After receiving the JICS report, the DCS conducted its own investigation and denied most of the JICS findings. It claims that the allegations lack substance. The JICS stands by its investigator’s findings and observations.”
She said the JICS had “faith in the extensive experience of its investigator”.
“What is more, recent inspections in KwaZulu-Natal, [which] the inspecting judge and senior JICS officials conducted, have confirmed that conditions and the treatment of inmates at [Westville Prison] are unsatisfactory.
“The JICS regrets the DCS’ blanket and unsubstantiated denial. The JICS reiterates the findings and recommendations in its Phoenix report.”
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