By Caroline Hooper-Box
Prisoners in South Africa's overcrowded jails lodged 190 167 complaints last year, on issues including prison conditions, assault, food, health care and treatment by warders.
And Human Rights Commission Chairman Jody Kollapen said many of the country's 180 000 prisoners should not be in jail in the first place. Almost 18 000 of the complaints made by prisoners last year related to bail and appeals. Kollapen said: "Sometimes a person cannot afford to pay bail for the paltry sum of R50. And it costs the taxpayer R100 daily to imprison them. It makes absolutely no sense."
More than 17 000 complaints were made about problems in gaining access to medics and medication.
Continues Below ↓
The office of Inspecting Judge Hannas Fagan said other complaints included 6 284 about assaults, 13 496 about conditions, and 12 941 about treatment by prison authorities.
Last week Deputy Chief Commissioner Jenny Schreiner said 580 corruption and fraud cases involving prison officials were being investigated. Corruption was described as "widespread".
The Institute for Security Studies said the Department of Correctional Services' workload is increasing faster than its capacity. The prison population will have risen to an estimated 225 000 by 2004.
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
