van der Westhuizen: Inmates are scared to report assault

Nontando Mafanya
18 November 2016

The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services says inmates are often too scared to report assaults by prison officials.

The inspectorate hosted a seminar near Caledon on Thursday to engage with Correctional Services, civil society organisations and academics on ways to deal with the issue.

There's been an increase in assault incidents on inmates allegedly by correctional officers over the past year.

Inspector Judge Johan van der Westhuizen says some gang members have a tradition to inaugurate a new prisoner.

 The tradition is that one of the officials must be assaulted to the extent that he spills blood on the ground.

He says inmates are sometimes tortured by officers in retaliation.

 Van der Westhuizen says the victims are often too scared to report these incidents.


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