Correctional services commissioner Samuel Thobakgale in November 2023. Johannesburg. [Picture: Picture: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers]
Authorities are clamping down on the possession of cellphones and other contraband in prisons after an inmate went viral boasting a “soft life” in prison.
A nighttime raid occurred at Johannesburg’s Sun City prison, a far way from Goodwood, Cape Town, where the video was filmed, on Wednesday.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika while police searched inmates and their cells, national commissioner of correctional services Samuel Thobakgale said they were “winning the fight” because “we are consistent in what we do”.
He pointed to “regular cell phone searches” and a “bagless society” as some of the steps being taken to prevent goods being smuggled into prisons. But, he admitted, “we do have lapses in the security system”.
“We also have our own officials undermining the system and we discipline them when we catch them. Even here now, as we do the search, some of the offenders are able to say ‘No, this thing … this is how it came through’ and then we follow up,” he said.
Earlier, Zimbabwean national Bornface Banks was thrilled to tell his TikTok audience about how good life was behind bars at the Goodwood Correctional Centre . It was essentially a free life, with no rent, electricity or food costs.
Commissioner Thobakgale entreated members of the public not to abuse visits to inmates as a way of smuggling goods to them. Not only does it harm the inmate, but if caught one would find themselves on the wrong side of the law, he said.
“By smuggling as a member of the community or family to the offender, you are actually impacting on the record of that offender. You are impacting the chances of this offender getting rehabilitated, corrected and eligible for parole.”
