Popcru calls on govt to ‘sever ties with private companies who run prisons’

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has urged government to sever ties with private institutions who operate maximum-security prisons in light of Thabo Bester‘s escape from Mangaung Correctional Facility (MCC).

Popcru claimed the institutions “prioritise profits over public safety and rehabilitation.”

Bester escape

Popcru was responding the saga surrounding the brazen escape of Thabo Bester from the Mangaung Correctional Facility in Bloemfontein in the Free State in May 2022, after it was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell.

However, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), which originally declared him dead, confirmed that the charred body found in his cell was not that of Bester who was convicted in 2012.

The prison operator G4S, however, still insists that Bester did indeed die in his cell, and refused to acknowledge any evidence to the contrary.

Private prisons

President of Popcru, Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza, argues that Bester’s escape highlighted the alarming risks of using private prisons in South Africa.

 “Government must sever ties with these private institutions, as they prioritise profits over public safety and rehabilitation.

“This incident serves as irrefutable evidence that privately run prisons do not work, and that it is time for the state to fulfil its own constitutional responsibility to see to prisoners’ care, rehabilitation, and security rather than attempting to outsource its duties,” he said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Nothing wrong with Thabo Bester having personal laptop in prison, says G4S

Security risk

Makhaza added that using foreign companies to run prisons posed a “security risk for the country.”

“This means that prisoners are not rehabilitated according to South African cultural norms and values. The purpose of incarceration is not simply to punish offenders, but also to help them turn their lives around and reintegrate them into society as law-abiding citizens.

“Overseas companies simply do not understand our unique challenges and cultural nuances, which means that they cannot successfully rehabilitate convicts back into society, leading to a higher rate of reoffending and crime,” Makhaza said.

G4S responsible?

Makhaza said that Bester’s escape raises several critical questions that must be addressed, emphasising that the department must thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding his flight such as how he ended up in the private facility, and how he escaped.

Following the brazen escape of Bester, also dubbed the Facebook rapist, DCS National Commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale last month conceded that the boss of the contractor G4S had lost control of the prison.

Thobakgale was briefing the media at the Mangaung prison about Bester’s escape from the facility.

Parliament

G4S, the security company which manages the Mangaung Correctional Centre, shunned Parliament last week, leaving MPs frustrated about Bester’s escape.

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services met on Tuesday to discuss Bester’s escape from the maximum-security prison last year.

Despite receiving an invitation to appear before the committee last week, G4S failed to show up to the meeting.

The Portfolio Committee will continue with meetings on Wednesday and Thursday this week to understand the circumstances surrounding Bester’s escape.

Parliamentary Hearing

During the inquiry by Justice and Correctional Services portfolio committee’s into the escape of Bester in Parliament on Wednesday, G4S said Mangaung Correctional Centre has been “one of the most secure correctional centres in SA over the past 22 years”, adding that they have had only three escapes, including Bester’s.

ALSO READ: G4S insists Mangaung ‘one of most secure’ SA prisons, despite Thabo Bester blunders