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Call for probe after 3 inmates are killed in prison clash

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Three people were killed and 26 injured in a clash between prisoners and warders at  St Albans Prison in Nelson Mandela Bay. (Sizwe Kupelo)
Three people were killed and 26 injured in a clash between prisoners and warders at St Albans Prison in Nelson Mandela Bay. (Sizwe Kupelo)

Three people were killed and 26 injured in a clash between prisoners and warders at the St Albans Prison in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The prison has a history of inmates attacking their guards and has the reputation of being the most violent correctional facility in the Eastern Cape.

Health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo confirmed that emergency service personnel had been dispatched to the prison following a brawl between inmates and guards today.

Kupelo confirmed that one inmate is believed to have died from his injuries at the hospital facility on site and two inmates died from their injuries after being transferred to the Livingstone hospital.

Kupelo said several warders were among those transported to hospitals and that 26 people had been injured in the brawl, 10 of whom were in a critical condition. Kupelo said that circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear.

Free for all

Eastern Cape Correctional Services Provincial Commissioner, Nkosinathi Breakfast, confirmed an incident at St Albans but said the full details were not yet available and that the department would only be issuing a statement on the matter tomorrow.

Since the incident the prison has been under lockdown, with no visitors being allowed. Many family members of inmates at the prison, who were hoping to visit their loved ones on Boxing Day, were turned away at the gate.

The incident is believed to have broken out in the C Max section during the breakfast session. There were initial reports that claimed that a prisoner stabbed a warder, sparking a free for all. Prisoners, believed to have been armed with shanks - homemade stabbing implements - attacked the warders, who retaliated.

Sources said it was a well-known fact that inmates pick up rank among the prison gangs if they drew blood from their guards.

In 2014, the SA Correctional Services Workers’ Union (Sacoswu) called for an investigation and sought legal action against the management of the St Albans facility after two guards were stabbed within four days of each other.

At the time Sacoswu said there had been 28 attacks by inmates on warders in 18 months, and many warders resigned due to the ongoing violence against them.

Kept in the dark

Some family members of warders took to Facebook to complain that they had been kept in the dark by the department following the incident. Rules prevented warders from carrying cellphones while on duty, compounding the situation.

"My sister is working there and she's on duty as we speak. All we are doing is [praying because] we can't even contact her [because] cellphones are not allowed," wrote Mapat Mzwali.

Mercia Brink said her brother-in-law also worked at St Albans and she had had to inform her sister about the incident after hearing about it through her sister-in-law.

"We don’t have a clue about what’s going on, can't even call my brother-in-law as they may not have their phones on them. The uncertainty makes a person crazy," she said.

Call for investigation

Democratic Alliance spokesperson on correctional services, James Selfe, said that he was "deeply concerned" by the reports.

He said the DA would ask the department to conduct a" full and thorough investigation into the events that led to this death and injury".

"It is not the first time that violent events have occurred at this prison and we cannot allow such incidents to go unaccounted," Selfe said.

"The DA will also write to the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services to ask the minister to appear before the committee as soon as possible at the start of 2017 to account to Parliament for the events," he added.

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