Questions were answered and community fears quelled on Monday when the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla, visited the Glencoe Prison.
The prison, 70% of which was gutted in a blaze two weeks ago, has been the subject of much speculation with the future of the warders up in the air.
Mr Makwetla inspected the complex, accompanied by Correctional Services officials, and journalists from News24, SABC and the Courier, to determine what could be salvaged and repaired.
He was also there to ascertain what would be the fate of the over 1000 inmates who have already been transferred to other prisons.
Many questions were posed during the press briefing including what was the exact cause of the fire. To this Mr Makwetla said ‘the exact cause of the fire is still a matter of investigation by the relevant agencies but we have gathered that the fire started in the gymnasium”.
Speculation surrounding the deployment of Correctional Services officials from Glencoe was also confirmed with Mr Makwetla telling journalists that ‘124 warders and officials have been posted to various (Correctional Services) facilities such as Waterval (Utrecht) and are executing their duties there.” The Courier has confirmed that others have been sent to Ncome Prison, Newcastle, Pietermaritzburg and Port Shepstone. In official letters to the warders, Correctional Services said that ‘S and T (subsistence and travelling) claims (for travelling) will not be paid to warders’. This has caused some unhappiness.
Questions on the estimated damage in Rands were also raised but Mr Makwetla was not able to confirm an amount.
He said that ‘parts of the (undamaged) remaining structures are very much still usable and up until now no complaints have been registered about their usage.’ The press briefing was concluded with a question on the state and fate of the prisoners as the centres around the province are overcrowded. Mr Makwetla concluded saying that, ‘the prisoners were sent to nearby centres which, of course, has exacerbated overcrowding but we have appealed to Public Works in the region to register this project (the rebuilding of the Glencoe Prison) as one of urgency.’
Mr Makwetla also commended all officials who work at this centre for their intervention as they were able to safely evacuate over a thousand inmates and records, goods, clothes and even money that was able to have been salvaged’.
