A video of prisoners drinking alcohol and having what can be seen as a mini party was leaked on Wednesday.
In the video, the prisoners who spoke in IsiXhosa can be seen chatting and laughing with their cellphones playing music. It was apparent that each prisoner had his own cell phone.
One inmate can be seen pouring more alcohol into their cups. As the video was shared on social media members of the public questioned the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola on why was the alcohol allowed inside the prison cells.
The truth is that it is relatives & friends of offenders who bring contrabands to our facilities. An investigation is ongoing to establish how the contrabands entered our centre. Strong action will be taken against officials who might have colluded with members of the public 1/2 https://t.co/28IQpG9Vo2
— Minister of Justice and Correctional Services 🇿🇦 (@RonaldLamola) March 11, 2020
Taking to social media to reply to the questions that were fired towards his directions Lamola said the offenders appeared before the Disciplinary Committee on Wednesday after he was alerted about the misconduct on social media.
“These offenders appeared before the Disciplinary Committee today. They have been reclassified, meaning they will be transferred to a maximum correctional centre. Their eligibility for parole will also be negatively affected.
“They will also undergo behaviour modification programmes. We are working on increasing our security capacity to reduce the smuggling of contrabands in our facilities including cellphones.”
Another alarmed citizen asked on how the cellphones got inside the prison of which the minister said that it was the prisoners’ relatives who were smuggling them inside the prisons.
“The truth is that it is relatives & friends of offenders who bring contrabands to our facilities. An investigation is ongoing to establish how the contrabands entered our centre. Strong action will be taken against officials who might have colluded with members of the public and offenders to allow contrabands in the centre,” Lamola answered.
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