Pretoria - The Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre could be facing a police investigation into allegations of severe assault and torture of prisoners.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has called for the investigation after sending the station commander of the Pretoria Central police station a letter detailing incidents of abuse against 16 inmates at the hands of Correctional Services officials who apparently call themselves Boko Haram.
“Some of these inmates are witnesses to the alleged murder of another inmate by Correctional officials,” the LHR statement read.
The inmate who died last July was Ricky Mokoena (56). He was allegedly assaulted by the warders in the prison. He was detained in the jail’s G1 Section 11 and was serving a murder sentence at the time of his death.
Clare Ballards, an attorney working for LHR, said in a previous interview with the Pretoria News, that Mokoena’s murder case was at trial stage and that four inmates who witnessed the incident had been victimised by some warders in prison.
They said their penal reform programme was prompted to call for the investigation after receiving an increasing number of complaints of assault of prisoners. “It appears that the alleged incidents of assault have, for the most part, occurred during purported search and seizure operations”.
“LHR will now give police an opportunity to investigate the allegations and monitor progress.”
Ballards said LHR had received eight letters from inmates complaining about their treatment.
Other prisoners detailed their severe assault in a letter.
According to the letter, which the Pretoria News has seen, some offenders had suffered brain damage and kidney problems due to the repeated abuse by “Boko Haram”.
Gauteng Correctional Services spokesman Ofentse Morwane said the department viewed the assault and torture allegations in a serious light.
Pretoria News