Correctional services national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale is taking steps to plug security gaps at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town after three inmates were erroneously released due to administrative bungles.
Thobakgale appointed two senior officials to probe security lapses that saw John Henry Mpelo, Inganathi “Thembalethu” Daba and Jordan Adams walk out of the facility.
Thobakgale admitted on Monday that “recent incidents at Pollsmoor correctional facility have exposed serious lapses in security and administrative controls.
“In recent months Pollsmoor has experienced a series of security breaches that exposed weaknesses in the management of warrants, court appearances and inmate identification processes. These incidents cannot be taken lightly as they have the potential to undermine public confidence in the correctional system and compromise the criminal justice value chain.
“These include the erroneous release of remand detainee John Henry Mpelo due to failures in verifying warrants, the mistaken release of Inganathi ‘Thembalethu’ Daba under another detainee’s identity and the case of Jordan Adams, who exploited weaknesses in record management to assume a false identity.
“While all three offenders were subsequently re-arrested, these breaches point to deep systemic vulnerabilities in fingerprint verification, record reconciliation and operational discipline. Investigations are under way and there will be accountability and consequences for those found to have neglected their duties.”
He decided to “introduce a management intervention” at the prison and appointed Abel Mashaba and Michael Mafukata to manage the facility while the probe continues.
“Their mandate is to institute corrective measures, restore stability and strengthen management practices at the facility. With extensive experience in the department, the two have also been investigating incidents in the Western Cape. They will remain deployed until their assignment is achieved, ensuring that Pollsmoor regains stability, accountability and credibility.”
Thobakgale said Pollsmoor was one of South Africa’s “big five” correctional facilities, “strategically located to service numerous courts in the Cape Town metropole and surrounding districts.
“Its role in the criminal justice system is pivotal. Any instability here has a ripple effect in law enforcement, the judiciary and community safety. We cannot afford to allow breaches of this magnitude to continue unchecked. This intervention is therefore not only necessary but non-negotiable.”
He added there were also issues at Oudtshoorn, Allandale and Goodwood prisons.
“There were escapes and there were also unnatural death incidents where there would be an attack on our officials by offenders. In getting the situation under control and the result being unnatural deaths of inmates.”
“In Allandale there was an escape, but in two hours [the inmate] was found having taken his own life. We decided to appoint a team to investigate this. We should be able to use these cases to improve management.”
Thobakgale also weighed in on the debate about blocking cellphone signals in prisons to stop inmates from running extortion rackets.
Underworld figures pulling the strings: mayor
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has been vocal about the issue. “Prisoners do not have the right to unfettered communication beyond prison walls, especially when they are co-ordinating crime from behind bars,” he said.
“Prisoners do not have the right to communicate freely beyond the prison walls. We have real examples of the police and prosecutors doing good work to get gangsters put away, only for them to continue to run their criminal gangs from inside prison. That makes a mockery of the criminal justice system.
“To suggest that these prisoners have an entrenched right to do as they please while behind bars is ludicrous.
“Inmates should be able to communicate with family and legal representatives, using the prison’s fixed line telephones. Even then, these calls are often monitored to ensure no crime is being committed. We know that underworld figures in Pollsmoor are pulling strings on the outside, including extortion threats and disruptions of city infrastructure projects.”
Hill-Lewis said that is why “a concerted effort is needed to block these communications from causing harm to communities”. That includes:
- raids to remove illicit cellphones;
- technology to pinpoint illegal cellphone use and intercept communications; and
- where necessary, signal blocking “if that’s what it takes to protect residents on the outside” from criminal threats.
“Inmates must know if they try to co-ordinate crime they will be caught and prosecuted with ease thanks to the correct technology being in place.”
Thobakgale confirmed the department was considering the move.
“There are countries implementing signal blocking. We want to do it in such a manner that the system will improve the capacity of the criminal justice system to prevent crime. We don’t want to implement a system that will disrupt efforts to address crime in South Africa. That is why we are careful in how we are moving in introducing the system.
“It is unfortunate that it has become an issue of public discussion. The details, because this is a security system, are not supposed to be in the media. In some quarters you have commentators that, in our view, do not understand how integrated security systems work.”
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