Prisoners behind bars. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - Prisoners incarcerated at the maximum Standerton Correctional Service Centre in Mpumalanga are calling on government authorities to attend to the “dire conditions” under which they have been forced to live over the past few years.
The convicts were able to communicate with the Pretoria News for over a week, using turns to gain access to an illicit cellphone that enabled them to blow the whistle on what they have labelled “ill treatment”.
The inmates also complained about the cold.
“There are dams nearby, and it is very cold. You are not allowed to use your own duvet just so you can keep warm. They want us to use the single blankets from apartheid prison days.
“Those who are sick have to suffer through the night because no one cares here. When you speak out, they add things to your file, and you become a target,” an inmate said.
Some of the prisoners could only access the phone in the early hours of the morning due to the search and seizure operations that take place daily at the facility, while others had access to it during working hours.
Although measures were taken to ensure that the whistle-blowers were indeed incarcerated at the facility, their names will be withheld to protect them.
Former Minister of Justice, Constitutional Development and Correctional Services Michael Masutha unveiled the “top” facility in December 2019 with the hope that inmates would serve their sentences under better conditions.
Masutha did this in line with the rights that the South African Constitution affords incarcerated persons to ensure their right to life, healthcare and general well-being.
However, the inmates have told the Pretoria News that conditions have declined, especially since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and the electricity blackouts.
One inmate said: “We live under the most difficult conditions. We acknowledge that we have wronged our society, and we are paying the price by being imprisoned here, but the punishment has gone beyond our ability to bear.
“Recently, some of us have been living in fear because when there is load shedding the generator no longer works. We are left in the dark where some have weapons and they target the weaker inmates.”
The inmates include perpetrators of crimes like rape, murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
They are serving various sentences, including life imprisonment.
Another prisoner said: “I personally suffer from a chronic condition and have to take medication on a daily basis, but the water that we have access to is dirty and visibly brown in colour.
“The water is collected through tankers that deliver it to the centre, and we all receive rations in drums. Sadly, there are times when we find dead birds in the water, and we have no choice but to consume it.”
The inmates said they had no access to public phones that were available at other jails, which meant they were unable to contact their families.
The main complaint – apart from the two meals, including soft porridge breakfast – was the issue of healthcare.
“It is very difficult here. We eat only in the morning, and between 1pm and 2pm. That’s it, until the next morning. But the most painful thing is that the clinic is closed at night because there are no nurses.
“Access to the clinic is allocated through sections. If you belong to a section that has access to the clinic on Friday or Monday, it means you can fall seriously ill or be injured on Wednesday, but you’ll only be attended to on Friday or Monday.
“There is no compromise. It is as if we have been sentenced to death. We are not claiming to be innocent, but we are pleading for some mercy. That is all we are asking for,” said an inmate.
Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo did not respond to questions sent to him on Wednesday. He did not answer his phone yesterday.
Pretoria News