And while the warden has already been suspended, more
officials could find themselves in trouble over the incident at the Ncome
Correctional Centre, which the department described as “appalling”.
Graphic video clips of the encounter have raised questions
about how the cellphone the prisoner used to film it found its way into the
prison.
“The investigation is much broader than the two people seen
on the video because ... We need to understand if it is just an isolated
incident or if there is more to it and if there are other players,” national
correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told radio 702 on
Wednesday.
The probe will look into how the pair managed to walk to and
gain access to the office and at the origin of the cellphone — regarded as
contraband in prison. “We do not want them [cellphones] in our centres. This is
a classic case, a cellphone was used to record this.
“It’s completely unpalatable. I don’t think that the nation
would deserve to see something like that, captured in video, and you are
correct, both of them [were] fully aware they are recording this thing,” said
Nxumalo in the radio interview.
“Sexual activities between inmates and correctional officials
are shameful incidents that can never be ascribed to what is expected of our
officials. The official involved has been identified and she will be subjected
to a disciplinary process with immediate effect,” Nxumalo said in an earlier
statement reported by TimesLIVE.
“Correctional officials are expected to abide by a code of
conduct, and despicable acts of sexual activities with inmates shall never be
tolerated. We appeal to those in possession of the video to refrain from
disseminating it,” Nxumalo said.
Nxumalo told TimesLIVE on Wednesday that claims shared on
social media about the warden taking her own life were not true.
Correctional services is occasionally rocked by videos of
shenanigans behind bars.
DispatchLIVE reported in March 2020 about an investigation
by the department into a video showing three prisoners drinking wine, playing
music and browsing social media on their cellphones inside their Mdantsane
cell.
And in 2019 a video went viral of inmates — serving time
for robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder — snorting a white
substance at another facility. A search operation was conducted in the
identified cell, where contraband was found.
Some of the confiscated items include 41 tablets of
Mandrax, 334 slopes of dagga, seven packages of dagga, six cellphones, four
cellphone chargers, eight earpieces, four sim cards, R23 in cash, one smoking
pipe and one memory stick.
The trio was transferred to the only “ultramax”
correctional facility in SA, eBongweni (C-max) prison in Kokstad.
TimesLIVE
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