12 Jun 2014

The department of prisons is still not capacitated to prevent prisoners from escaping in cells, says the commissioner, Mr Silas Motlalekgosi.

Mr Motlalekgosi said when answering questions during the Public Accounts Committee session on June 10 that the few CCTV cameras they had were dysfunctional.

He also noted that they were incapacitated as the ratio of officers to prisoners stood at one to 15, noting that most of prisoners escaped at courts and hospitals.

The amount of resources put in place to apprehend prisoners, he said, were not balancing as some of the cells were not conducive for keeping people citing that in Mahalapye holding capacity was 100 but it had 275, in Lobatse holding capacity was 100 but they had 145.

The commissioner was responding to a question asked by the Member of Parliament for Tswapong North, Mr Prince Maele who had asked the accounting officer to explain how the prisoners escaped from prison, noting that 37 escaped in 2013.

Mr Phillip Makgalemele had also asked the accounting officer to explain the scenario that was used on people who were considered for bail, as they end up repeating the same crimes. He also asked if it was not a concern for the ministry.

Member of Parliament for Kanye North Mr Kentse Rammidi also asked if the prisoners were safe where they were kept.

Mr Motlalekgosi admitted that safety was compromised if one person had to attend to fifteen individuals, adding that there was also an issue of negligence by staff.

Member of Parliament for Kgatleng East Mr Isaac Mabiletsa requested the commissioner to explain if it was not a lapse of security on the department’s part. He said they should have in place an arrangement where any place to be visited by prisoners was cleared and secured.

Commissioner indicated that they have an arrangement where officers had to ensure that places that prisoners would visit were cleared, but in most instances they did not do that, adding that they took them through disciplinary action. ENDS