No fewer than 580 corruption probes are currently under way against Department of Correctional Services employees, a senior official revealed on Wednesday.
The chief deputy commissioner for central services, Jenny Schreiner, said these investigations were begun in the past 18 months.
”We have 580 cases pending,” she told reporters in Pretoria.
The probes relate to a range of suspected offences, including the forging of qualifications upon recruitment, medical aid fraud and theft of departmental property.
Also under investigation are allegations of false transport claims and the misuse of state funds.
Other offences have to do with the way in which prisoners’ money is handled, and involvement in smuggling inside prisons.
Schreiner said some of the inquiries are being done with the help of the Special Investigating Unit, tasked last year to support the department in unearthing corruption.
It is not clear when the investigations will be completed.
Schreiner was speaking at a briefing by senior departmental officials on the draft White Paper on Corrections.
Recently approved in principle by the Cabinet, the document seeks to shift the department’s focus from punishment to rehabilitation.
”Correctional Services will never be the same again,” communication head Luzuko Jacobs said.
The chief deputy commissioner for corrections, Siyabulela Mlombile, said the department is seeking to change the profile of its employees from warders to role models.
”This might seem like a tall order if you look where we are coming from,” he said. ”But we feel we can change the profile within a relatively short time.”
One way to achieve this is to change the department’s recruitment programme.
Mlombile said the new mission of the department also requires a review of its prison facilities as they had not been built with a view to rehabilitating people.
”You need space for rehabilitation, and the review of facilities is under way.”
Another area being tackled by management is the containment of violence perpetrated by prisoners.
”We feel we have not fared well in providing effective security for officials and [non-violent] inmates,” Mlombile said.
The chief deputy commissioner for development and care, Jabu Sishuba, said punishment for a prisoner should end when his or her sentence is pronounced. A punishment approach in prisons produces individuals who become bitter and unfit to return to society.
”That’s why rehabilitation has been placed at the centre of all our activities,” said Sishuba.
”When people leave here, they should realise that their offence had hurt other people.”
The aim is for prisoners to have discarded their negative values for positive ones by the end of their sentence.
”Our approach will be that we must hate the deed not the doer, with the conviction that every individual has the potential to change,” Sishuba said.
Jacobs said the final draft White Paper, which will include the cost of the proposed changes, is expected to get the nod from Cabinet early next year. — Sapa