‘Dire state of prisons an injustice to inmates, guards’

A new report by the inspecting judge for correctional services, Judge Edwin Cameron, reveals that many of South Africa’s prisons are unfit to provide accommodation for people serving their sentences.

He paints a picture of buildings with huge problems and suggests that the Public Works and Infrastructure department is unable or unwilling to fix them.

Cameron says they visited numerous prisons around the country and found the buildings to be in a terrible state.

“We found asbestos roofing, we found cracks, we found floods, we found malfunctioning sewer systems, we found non-functioning plumbing, no hot water, kitchens drenched in water, leaks coming through. It’s a catalogue of agony and our point is that this is an injustice to the people we incarcerate, but it’s also an injustice to those we require to guard them, the DCS personnel.”

Judge Edwin Cameron speaks on the dire state of SA prisons: