Judges visit prisons – witness

“My Lady, judges and magistrates have access to any correctional service facility. They can interview any inmate,” acting national commissioner of correctional services Zach Modise said.

“Even the judges in the Constitutional Court visit our facilities.”

Modise was the second witness prosecutor Gerrie Nel called in aggravation of sentencing after law graduate Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by Oscar Pistorius in his home on February 14, last year.

As Modise spoke, Steenkamp’s father Barry briefly looked at Pistorius, who sat writing, with his head down.

Modise said judges and magistrates talk to inmates, take complaints from them and deal with the complaints.

When a new prisoner goes to jail, the person gets assessed in a period of 21 days to determine how and where to accommodate them, he said. They took social, psychological and health needs into account.

He said there are people who had different “vulnerabilities” and they had to ensure these vulnerabilities are not exploited.

On September 12, Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for the Valentine’s Day 2013, shooting of his girlfriend Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse. The court found him not guilty of murdering Steenkamp. Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the locked door of the toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him. She was hit in the hip, arm, and head.

Pistorius was found guilty of firing a pistol under a table at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg in January 2013. He was found not guilty of shooting through the open sunroof of a car in Modderfontein on September 30, 2012, and of illegal possession of ammunition.

– Sapa

Follow @CitiReporter on twitter for live updates from inside and outside court or click here for the live twitter feed.