The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has ruled in favour of Mbalenhle Ntuli, an inmate at Johannesburg Medium C prison, to be allowed to use his laptop without a modem in his single cell.
The decision was made after the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, together with other officials from the ministry, approached the SCA to set aside the High Court in Johannesburg decision which allowed Ntuli to use his laptop in his single cell.
Ntuli started serving his 20-year sentence in March 2011 and in 2017, he registered with Oxbridge Academy, a private distance learning college in Stellenbosch, Western Cape.
He registered a course in a computer studies.
Initially, he was allowed to use his personal laptop in his cell because there was no computer room facility at Johannesburg Medium B prison.
The issue started when he was was transferred to Johannesburg Medium C prison, where his laptop was confiscated upon arrival.
He addressed his concerns with the head of the prison and wanted permission to use his laptop in his cell to progress in his studies.
He received a terse answer: ‘’Not approved. Educational policy is clear. No personal computers in cells.’’
He escalated his request to the Regional Commissioner, and did not get a better outcome.
He was told that due to security challenges, inmates should not be allowed to have a computer in their cells because it was a security risk.
Instead, he would be afforded an opportunity to use the computer room for study purposes during the day.
He approached the High Court in Johannesburg where he represented himself and won.
The court said the prison’s policy discriminated against inmates of Johannesburg Medium C prison, since prisoners elsewhere were able to use laptops in single cells.
The SCA held that the high court was correct to recognise the infringement and insufficiency of the justification relied upon by the correctional service.
“Mr Ntuli has therefore been substantially successful ... The applicant is entitled to use his personal computer in his cell, without the use of a modem, for as long as he remains a registered student with a recognised tertiary or further education institution in South Africa,” read the judgment.
The SCA also set aside a policy dated February 8, 2007, which prohibits the use of personal computers in cells.
The department has been directed to disseminate the revised policy to the head of every correctional centre, and to the head of education at each centre.
“Notice of the revised policy must be posted on notice boards in all prisons where prisoners customarily receive information, and such notice must set out where prisoners may obtain copies of the revised policy,” said the court.
IOL