Andy Duffy
Awaiting-trial prisoners are being held at CMax, raising fresh concerns about the rules prison officials follow before putting people into the controversial hi- tech jail.
At least 10 suspects have been placed in the maximum security unit since Christmas, and police have played an influential role in the decision to use CMax to hold them.
The Department of Correctional Services refuses to name the inmates, number them, or detail their alleged crimes. But it confirms that at least two are suspects in a spate of highway heists which netted villains millions of rands late last year.
The department says the awaiting-trial prisoners can be held at CMax until police have completed their investigation, or until the suspects’ case goes to court. Their treatment is no different from that meted out to other CMax inmates, though they are given greater access to their lawyers.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC), which discovered the new inmates during a routine visit last week, wants to meet national commissioner Khulekani Sitole to discuss the procedures he and his officials use to determine candidates for CMax.
The decision to put the awaitingtrial prisoners into CMax follows the escape last month of six other heist suspects from Pretoria Central Prison — a break-out which severely embarrassed Sitole’s department and led to a row with police.
“We’re concerned that CMax doesn’t just become a solution for every problem,” says HRC commissioner Jody Kollapen.
A department representative confirms police were involved in recommending the suspects go into CMax, but that the final decision rested with provincial and national prison management. “Obviously risk management remains the most important reason,” he says.
The United States-style prison, which opened in Pretoria last September, is supposed to prevent escape attempts, and isolate prisoners judged incorrigible escapers or a danger to others or themselves.
Inmates spend 23 hours a day in tiny cells, shower and exercise in cages and are denied any contact with fellow prisoners. Such conditions have appalled human-rights groups.
The department’s refusal to justify in detail individual transfers into the prison has also caused trouble. Two convicted murderers, backed by Lawyers for Human Rights, are taking legal action against the department over its decision to transfer them to CMax late last year.
But the department, confident it enjoys popular support, has so far ignored such concerns. It adds that CMax numbers have more than doubled since Christmas, and now fluctuates between 40 and 50 prisoners.