All inspected Gauteng prisons found 'unsatisfactory'

The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services' annual report found that 100% of the prison facilities that were inspected in Gauteng were unsatisfactory.

The report was released on Thursday in Pretoria.

JICS inspectors visited 81 correctional centres during the 2017/2018 financial year.

Inspections of prison structures‚ including housing units‚ ablution areas‚ plumbing (running water‚ geyser systems)‚ electrical supply‚ kitchens‚ and medical areas‚ showed that 54 of the 81 facilities required urgent maintenance.

In Gauteng 100% of the 11 inspections recorded the need for urgent maintenance. In the Northern Cape and the Free State 15 of the 19 facilities inspected were unsatisfactory. The figures for the Limpopo‚ Mpumalanga‚ North West management region were 5 of the 7. In the Western Cape 8 of 16‚ in Eastern Cape 7 of 13 and KwaZulu-Natal saw the best figures as only 4 of the 15 facilities inspected were found to be unsatisfactory.

According to inspecting judge Johann Vincent van der Westhuizen “without fail every correctional centre head expressed great frustration at either the long wait they endured‚ or appointed contractors not completing the job or rendering poor workmanship”.

South Africa’s 243 correctional centres accommodate more than 160‚000 inmates‚ including more than 16‚000 who are serving life sentences.

Owing to financial and staff constraints‚ JICS is only able to visit each of these centres once every three years.