The Department of Correctional Services plans to keep prisoners from escaping over the festive season by involving them in so-called “offender escapism”.
“Operation Vala”, to be launched in East London on Friday, will see the tightening of security measures in prisons around the country while channelling inmates’ attention towards recreational and sporting activities, according to Luphumzo Kebeni, national spokesperson for the department. “Vala” is isiZulu for “tightening”.
Kebeni said the department routinely increases prison security during the festive periods, as escape attempts tend to escalate around this time.
He said recreational programmes continue throughout the year and are an important departmental focus, but added that this is the first time an official plan will be launched.
“There is a conception, a misconception, that there is a lull in correctional services in the festive season,” Kebeni told the Mail & Guardian Online, adding that the launch of this programme is also meant to sensitise communities to the department’s efforts.
He explained that community and family members often smuggle contraband into prisons to assist inmates with their escape plans.
An initiative like Operation Vala will “encourage and motivate offenders to actively participate in recreational and sports activities whilst we are also raising public awareness and mobilising communities against the temptation to assist or harbour offenders on the run”, a departmental statement said.
“Without official awareness or community support, it [the plan] won’t work,” Kebeni told the M&G Online.
He conceded that lax and corrupt security personnel are also partly to blame for prison escapes, “but those [people] are just a few elements”. Kebeni added that increased security measures, such as the use of cameras, have helped to apprehend such individuals.
Explaining the link between an increase in recreation and a decrease in prison breaks, Kebeni said: “If you don’t escalate and encourage issues of recreation, they [inmates] will just sit and do nothing and obviously think of criminal things, including escaping.”
He said the Department of Correctional Services is hoping that the kind of “recreational escapism” provided through Operation Vala will divert inmates’ attention away from criminal ideas. “It gives them a platform to rechannel their attention to more constructive activities.”
The plan to keep inmates occupied will comprise a range of indoor sporting and recreational activities, including volleyball, cricket, soccer, table tennis, chess and boxing. The department also intends to limit outdoor activities, as these could influence inmates’ thoughts of escaping, Kebeni said.
The plan also includes “beefing up security” with the emergency security task team, a specialised unit within the DCS that will increase spot checks and monitor security, especially in more vulnerable areas such as kitchen and hospital sections.
Kebeni said added safety measures are provided though the prisons’ biometric security systems, which use camera surveillance, identity codes and motion detectors.
A public education operation will also be conducted through crime-awareness sessions and door-to-door and walkabout campaigns, in conjunction with the South African Police Service.
Operation Vala, which was formulated internally, will be implemented by existing prisons personnel, Kebeni said. All the necessary recreational equipment is to be donated, and the programme’s “motivational and coaching sessions” will rely on volunteers, such as prominent personalities and ex-offenders who have since excelled in sport.
The campaign will be launched by Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour and deputy and regional commissioners at the Mdantsane Correctional Centre in East London on Friday.