Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour and MPs experienced the toxic smoke and flammability of mattresses at Pollsmoor prison on Wednesday, where three inmates died in a fire last week.
”Honestly, we must check to change this,” said Dennis Bloem, chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services, during the demonstration.
Balfour, Bloem and other MPs were at the prison following last Friday’s self-immolation of prisoners Vincent Carelse, Kevin van Rooyen and Jonathan Davids.
A charred single cell with blistered walls and remnants of blackened clothing were all that reminded MPs of the men’s death on Monday. There was a faint acrid smell of flesh and fire-extinguisher chemicals.
Addressing media after a cursory tour and exchange of pleasantries with prisoners, Balfour said in an ideal situation no prisoner should die in prison.
He said his ministry and department need to look at the reaction time of correctional services personnel, the replacement of the highly flammable mattresses and the installation of smoke detectors.
”We need to talk to inmates about the dangers of starting fires,” said Balfour.
He said that prison overcrowding remains a concern, and having more than two people in a single cell, as was the case when the three prisoners died, was not right.
Bloem echoed what the minister said, adding that MPs have a particular responsibility to help with oversight and amelioration of prison conditions.
Bloem said the portfolio committee will meet senior management of Pollsmoor on Monday to better acquaint themselves with conditions and challenges within the prison system.
”We are very much unhappy with the situation … We want to get correctional services right and on track,” he said.
Answering questions, Balfour said he will put his neck ”on the line” and ”crush” gangsters and gangsterism, which together with drug smuggling and overcrowding are hampering prison reforms and prisoner rehabilitation.
Balfour said the department will even consider transferring problematic prisoners to other parts of the country in a bid to break the stranglehold of gangsters.
While conceding that Friday’s prison deaths could have been a protest against prison conditions, Balfour nonetheless suggested that it was a gang-related incident.
The minister, who addressed Pollsmoor’s senior management after the brief tour, said he plans a mass meeting of prisoners where they will be able to air their grievances.
He said a preliminary report on the deaths of three other inmates, who suffered a similar fate at Pollsmoor in August, is being studied.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s deputy spokesperson on correctional services, Craig Morkel, said at the prison he will reserve comment until more facts are established at Monday’s meeting.
However, he ventured to say that during his brief interaction with some prisoners, he could detect what seemed to be a ”code of silence” among both prisoners and staff.
”We need to find out why it [the code] exists and why it seems people fear it,” said Morkel. — Sapa