MBOMBELA – Prisons the world over are dark and forbidding places and Nelspruit Prison is no exception. One is often left wondering what dark deeds are perpetrated behind the high barbed-wire fencing and if those inside are really being rehabilitated.

Lowvelder went to the prison on March 6 to visit an inmate with a sordid tale of human rights violations, trade in illicit drugs and what he alleged to be high-ranking prison officials’ involvement in these nefarious activities.

While waiting for the inmate to be escorted to the prison visiting area, one could not help but feel overwhelmed by the starkness of it all. The small television which hung overhead, broadcasting a cricket match, did little to ease the anxiety.

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He spoke at length about conditions inside the facility and provided a disturbing picture of corruption and abuse. According to him, the most recent incident occurred on February 21, between 11:00 and 12:00 after the inmates’ daily exercise was completed.

He said, “James Anderson* (not his real name), an inmate serving time for a minor offence, stopped to pick up a coil of electrical wire which lay on the floor.

The other inmates spotted him and reported him to the prison warders, who took him to a room where they proceeded to whip him on the buttocks with lengths of hose pipe.

The visibly shaken inmate said that the assault lasted for about a half-hour with Anderson screaming in pain and protesting his innocence, but added that the assault was so severe that the hapless inmate eventually relented and admitted, under duress, that he had stolen the rolled-up wire.

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Anderson sustained deep red welts after enduring 16 lashes to his buttocks after the beating was administered by four prison warders of who he claimed he could only identify as Mhlongo, Ngonqo, Theledi and Khozi.

He added, “I tried to follow protocol by reporting the incident and the police were here to take a statement, but said that they couldn’t interfere with the department of corrections’ internal disciplinary processes.”

I am prepared to stand by my words.

A telephonic conversation on March 7 with the prison’s operations manager, Dumisane Magongo, revealed that he was unaware of the incident.

He said, “I have not received any information about the incident, but will conduct an investigation into the matter and provide feedback.”

In a subsequent telephone conversation, Magongo said, “The alleged victim has denied the beating took place, but was admitted to the prison’s sick bay for treatment unrelated to the alleged whipping.”

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