State can be sued if Bester harms public while on the run

Not only the Department of Correctional Services must take full responsibility for the Facebook rapist Thabo Bester’s epic prison escape, the state can also be sued for neglecting its duty to keep citizens from escaped prisoners.

University of Pretoria criminal law expert, Dr Llewelyn Curlewis, said if an escaped prisoner harmed a citizen, the state is liable for civil damages.

“Yes, definitely… The state neglected its duty towards society to keep citizens safe from prisoners like Bester and if something then happens while he is outside, the state is directly or indirectly responsible.

“The Department of Correctional Services must take responsibility! It was the custodian of the inmate after all,” he said.

Splurging resources on leaks

The Department of Correctional Services has since revealed that Bester, also known as the “Facebook rapist” escaped from jail on 3 May 2022, following a dramatic Free State’s Mangaung prison fire that supposedly killed him.

A manhunt has since been launched to search for the fugitive who was serving a life sentence for murder and rape at the maximum security prison operated by security company G4S.

This in the backdrop of South African Police Service (Saps) national commissioner General Fannie Masemola revealing that authorities would be splurging resources for “looking into the leaking of sensitive and confidential information to media houses”.

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It was through media house GroundUp investigative work that blew the lid on the escape, leading to confirmation that Bester was indeed missing from custody.

Threat to public safety

Another worrying element of this Bester escape saga, according Director of Geopolitical Intelligence Advisory Lunga Dweba, is the state corrections system’s inability to rehabilitate offenders and curb radicalisation.

He said a single prisoner on the street can pose a serious threat to public safety.

Dweba said the SA government, through the Department of Correctional Services, adopted the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners or The Nelson Mandela Rules.

“This was followed by the launch of the training manual in 2019. Even though these rules are not legally binding, they are based on the pledge to abide by good principles and practices in the treatment of prisoners and prison management,” he explained.

Dweba argued that seemingly in the Bester escape expose, the system fell short in preventing further radicalisation of this particular prisoner, posing a serious threat to the public.

Tough action needed

“Based on the information that is publicly available, an impression is created that the individual would have been supported from within the prison system. If this is confirmed to be true, the action went further to obstruct the process of deradicalisation and rehabilitation. The cost that comes with these challenges is that significant security threat to public safety was created,” he said.

As a way forward and with clear evidence, Dweba said, disciplinary actions must be taken against those found to have facilitated the alleged escape.

“Furthermore, consideration should also be given to preventing prisoners from freely associating with prison staff and to supervising their interactions. One way to achieve this is through correctional intelligence programmes that focus on disrupting efforts to beat the system,” he added.

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