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Kutama Sinthumule Correctional
Centre
Makhado, Limpopo
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
May 24, 2006 Cape Times
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour wants another remission of
sentence for petty criminals, but says a decision is ultimately the president's
prerogative. A presidential decree in 2005 saw 30 000 prisoners released from
jails countrywide. But he was also critical about public/private prisons which
he accused of being run "as if they are fiefdoms". The proposed public finance
model prisons was a better option than the public private prisons which Balfour
said racked up huge costs to run.
April 5, 2006 SABC News
About 12 nursing staff of the Kutama-Sinthumule private prison in Limpopo are
staying away from work saying they don't feel safe in the prison. They have
joined about 200 striking warders in the labour action. The labour withdrawal by
the nurses comes as the Provincial Parliament Portfolio Committee on Safety and
Security meets to discuss the safety of prisoners. The striking warders are
continuing to protest 500m away from the prison. A minimum number of warders
resumed for duty this morning after an appeal by management for them to come
back to work. The other striking warders say they will continue their stoppage
until their demands are addressed. The Parliament Portfolio Committee on Safety
and Security is still locked in a meeting with prison management in a bid to
ensure safety of prisoners and the surrounding community.
March 31, 2006 SABC News
More than 200 striking prison warders at the Kutama Sinthumule private
prison outside Makhado in Limpopo say they won't return to work until they
receive outstanding salary allowances. The protest follows yesterday's
resolutions between the workers union, Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru),
and management. Late yesterday, the parties agreed that workers would resume
their duties pending the arbitration process. The workers are unhappy about
their housing and danger allowances. They say these have not been paid to them
since 2002. They say management must pay them these allowances before they can
resume their duties.
March 1, 2006 Mail & Guardian
Order has returned to the privately owned Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre
in Makhado, Limpopo, a spokesperson said on Wednesday -- this after a strike by
prison officials led to the death of a 37-year-old inmate and the injury of
another. South African Custodial Management MD Stephen Korabie said the
Department of Correctional Services and the police were called in on Tuesday
night to help manage the situation. Limpopo police spokesperson Superintendent
Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said prisoners also went on strike and rubber bullets were
fired to stop them running away at 9.45pm. "Extensive damage was caused to one
of the four units of the centre that accommodates approximately 1 152
maximum-category offenders," said Korabie. He said plans were being made to find
alternative accommodation for about 800 prisoners while the damaged unit was
being restored. Korabie said the Department of Correctional Services had loaned
the centre some staff to help provide basic custodial and security functions,
pending the settlement of the dispute with the warders.
Mangaung Maximum
Security Prison
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Group 4
August 18, 2003
South Africa's private prisons and maximum security prisons have turned out to
be an enormous waste of money, energy and time. These are some of the
findings made by University of the Western Cape Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen,
whose overview of policy developments in the Department of Correctional Services
was published recently as part of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative's
series of research papers. Sloth-Nielsen has called for an investigation
similar to that into the arms deal regarding the tender process for existing
private prisons. "The reason for prison privatisation was mainly cost
based," she said. Privatisation, however, was costing the Department
of Correctional Services much more than it had bargained for. In 2001/2002
it was projected that by 2004/2005 the existing projects (those deemed viable by
a prisons task team) would cost the department R538-million - up from
projections of R143-million in 2001/2002. "The department agreed that
the decision had been unwise, and that Treasury had at the time advised against
the transaction. "The decision to undertake the private prisons
projects was, however, a political one, according to the departmental
spokesperson." The official position currently appeared to be that no
more private prisons would be contemplated because of the inordinate and
unforeseen expense. Sloth-Nielsen said the concept of C-Max prisons was
introduced at a time when the Department of Correctional Services was
characterised by the influence of American ideas in the penal sphere. The
intention was originally to create more of these facilities, she said, but this
was put on the backburner during 2001 because it had turned out to be "a
cost-intensive exercise". According to Sloth-Nielsen, the new prison
for "bad eggs", Supermax near Kokstad, was an even more lasting
testimony to the influence of American penal philosophy and practice.
"No impact analysis or land survey was done, which explains why the
facility has been built without a kitchen - the site is too steep to transport
food in the normal manner. "It cost R360-million to build - 155% more
than budgeted for." Supermax - reserved for high-risk prisoners - was
a "veritable Robben Island on land" in terms of its inaccessibility
for family visits. In addition, the department had not been able to find
enough "bad eggs" to fill the prison. Now the department
envisaged a series of "new generation prisons" for medium and low-risk
prisoners. Four would be built within the next two years. Construction
would rely on local resources; empowerment and security would be people centred
and not technology based, Sloth-Nielsen added. They would be strategically
placed in areas most affected by overcrowding. The focus would be on
rehabilitation. (The Star)
August 4, 2003
A PROFESSOR of law has called for an arms deal-like investigation into the
awarding of contracts for private prisons. Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen
of the University of the Western Cape said that the Department of Correctional
Services had admitted "impropriety" in the privatisation process yet
nothing had been done about it. She made these claims in a research
document presented at a seminar in Cape Town on Thursday. "If this
matter is not being taken up by any other investigative authority . . . this
should be a priority of the [Parliamentary Portfolio] Committee in the same way
as the arms investigation has been dealt with," she said. In the
document Sloth-Nielsen says: Initially seven contracts for private prisons
were announced, but only two have been constructed, Mangaung Maximum Security
Prison in Bloemfontein, contracted to a UK-based consortium, and the maximum
security prison in Louis Trichardt in Limpopo; The process of awarding these
contracts was hasty, with the first five tenders awarded months before the
legislation was tabled in Parliament; and The Department of Correctional
Services itself had noted, "with some acrimony", that the people
involved in the project design, contract-drafting and negotiations, had upped
and left soon afterwards - to take up senior positions in the companies that had
won the tenders. "Again, this gave rise to considerable suspicion about the
integrity of the process itself," said Sloth-Nielsen. A task team,
consisting of representatives of Correctional Services and the Treasury,
presented a report to Parliament in November last year about the financial
arrangements of private prisons. "For a start, the official view
appears to be that the contracts were awarded without proper homework having
been done," she said. The actual cost per prisoner a day at the
Bloemfontein private prison is R132.20, compared with R93.67 a day for prisoners
in state prisons. "A debate about the morality of housing 6 000
prisoners in the undeniable [comparative] luxury of uncrowded new facilities,
while 182 000 remaining prisoners are left to languish in cells where sleeping
by rote is the order of the day, is also required," said
Sloth-Nielsen. "If indeed state officials (or former state officials)
benefited materially from the privatisation processes, this must be
exposed." Department of Correctional Services spokesman Russel
Mamabolo said on Friday they needed more time to study the 58-page document
before they would comment. (Johannesburg)
March 4, 2003
The chairman of the South African Human Rights Commission visited the
privately-run Mangaung Maximum Security Prison outside Bloemfontein on Tuesday
to investigate alleged violations of prisoners' rights. SAHRC spokeswoman Phumla
Mthala said Jody Kollapen would interview individual prisoners and meet with
prison authorities on Tuesday morning. Mthala said the investigation followed
several complaints by prisoners to the SAHRC's Free State office about, among
other things, detention conditions at the prison. The first complaints were
received last year. The aim of the investigation was to look at detention
conditions and verify the authenticity of the alleged human rights violations,
Mthala said. Earlier on Tuesday Dr Motsoko Pheko, deputy president of the Pan
Africanist Congress (PAC) and Member of Parliament, told Sapa that he planned to
ask Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana in Parliament about alleged gang
violence in Mangaung Prison. Pheko said he had received complaints from inmates
who feared for their lives due to gang violence in the prison. "When people
are punished and sent to prison by court, they should be allowed to serve their
sentences without putting their lives at risk," Pheko said. According to
Pheko, the murder of a Mangaung Prison inmate last week by a fellow inmate was
gang-related. Mangaung Prison is one of two private prisons in South Africa run
by the British based company Group 4. It has approximately 2928 inmates.
(South African Press Association)
February 27, 2003
An inmate of the privately-run Mangaung Maximum Security Prison outside
Bloemfontein died after an alleged assault by a fellow prisoner, the prison
confirmed on Thursday. The prison's managing director, Frikkie Venter, said the
deceased was allegedly assaulted in the prison late on Wednesday afternoon.
No
weapon was used in the attack. The injured prisoner was taken to the prison
hospital where he died while in a doctor's care. Venter said a team was already
investigating the incident. He was waiting for a report with full details.
Captain Ernest Mayiki spokesman for the Free State police confirmed that police
were investigating a case of murder. Venter expressed his condolences to the
family of the deceased. Mangaung Maximum Security, belonging to the company
Group Four, is one of two privately-managed correctional institutions in South
Africa. It is situated adjacent to the Department of Correctional Services'
Grootvlei Prison near Bloemfontein. Two convicts escaped from the prison on New
Year's Day. (South African Press Association)
January 1, 2003
Two reportedly dangerous convicts are at large after the first escape from a
privately-managed prison in South Africa on Wednesday. The prisoners made
their daring escape around 1 pm while working out in the gym of the Maung
Maximum Correctional Facility near Bloemfontein, Department of Correctional
Services spokesman Russel Mamabolo told Sapa. Both men were regarded as
dangerous. Mamabolo said his department would conduct a thorough
investigation into the escape and expected a full report from the management
company that runs Maung Maximum, Group 4. Maung Maximum is one of only two
privately-managed correctional institutions in South Africa. The other is
near Louis Trichardt in limpopo. (South African Press Association)
May 2001
A youngster caught stealing three mangoes out of hunger, recently spent four
months awaiting trial in a Johannesburg prison due to bungling by justice
officials, the country's top independent prisons' inspector revealed on Friday.
"This boy was prepared to plead guilty. It is obvious the magistrate
and prosecutor were not doing their job properly," Judge Johannes Fagan
told guests visiting the new Mangaung Maximum Security Prison outside
Bloemfontein. He blamed prison overcrowding on inept justice officials who
fail to process cases speedily. According to statistics from the
Department of Correctional Services, the country's 236 prisons, with an
accommodation capacity of 102, 048 was housing about 170,168 inmates by the end
of February. Nearly a third of these, or about 64,000 individuals, were
awaiting trial, Fagan said. (News 24, South Africa)
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