Prisons have training facilities, Oscar court hears

“There are sports and recreational facilities available in our centres,” acting national commissioner of correctional facilities Zach Modise said.

“We also have offenders that are taking part in athletics, soccer, rugby and boxing.”

He said that inmates even took part in sporting events and competed with other inmates.

The spiritual needs of inmates were also looked after.

Modise said that when prisoners went into facilities, it was ensured that correction and rehabilitation took place.

He said they offered various programs in education and skills training, including carpeting, spray painting, agriculture, cooking, painting and cleaning services.

On September 12, Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for the Valentine’s Day 2013, shooting of his girlfriend Reeva 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.

Modise said that there were gangs operating in prisons but they had anti-gang structures in place.

“My Lady, in our facilities in the country, we have gangs that are operating — gangs that are trying to take over the running of the centres,” he said.

“Some of them… come to correctional services already being gang leaders.

“But I can assure this court that the department of correctional services is dealing with the issue of gangsterism. We are doing that with the SA Police Service and our intelligence community.”

Pistorius was also 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

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