INMATE’S RELATIVES BANNED FROM CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

MBABANE – His Majesty’s Correctional Services has banned two people from Sidwashini Remand Centre after trying to sneak in muti for an inmate.

The Times Investigations Desk has uncovered that the two are relatives of an inmate who is still awaiting trial at the Correctional institution. Investigations revealed that the two pretended as if they had visited their relative and had brought him clothing, when in actual fact they had hidden the muti in the items. 

An inside source revealed to this publication that the incident happened about a month ago. They managed to beat the security at the guardhouse situated at the main entrance of the Correctional facility and were led inside where they were to meet their relative doing time for an undisclosed offence. However, as procedure dictates, a Correctional services officer was present when the two met with the inmate. Just when they were about to hand over the clothing to the inmate, the officer demanded to search the items.

“When the officer searched through the clothing that had been brought into the centre for the inmate he discovered muti knitted in one of the clothing items. The relatives had not informed the security personnel that they had brought muti for the inmate. They claimed that the inmate was a sickly person and needed to be given special traditional medicine for the illness,” the source said.

The Correctional Services officers took the relatives for questioning on why they had brought in substances that were not permitted into the institution and to make matters worse, tried to sneak it in. Some officers within the institution suspected that the relatives were trying to sneak in muti so that their relative’s case could turn to their favour.

A source within the Correctional centre disclosed that sneaking in of muti had become rife in the institution where relatives tried to help inmates awaiting trial with the hope that their cases in court would turn in their favour, but in many occasions, their efforts were thwarted by the vigilant officers. After being questioned by the remand centre’s authorities, it was decided that they should be banned from the centre.

A source said their names have been pinned at the centre’s guardhouse where all visitors are screened before making entry into the centre to check on their relatives. Whenever a visitor goes to check an inmate, their names are checked against the list of the banned people.

The Sidwashini Remand Centre is not new to security breach as about two years ago; some visitors were reported to have sneaked in gadgets and recorded video interviews inside the centre. The interviews were then screened in one of the South African television stations.

This led to the institution strengthening its security measures. All visitors, from then on, were required to produce valid identity documents. Also, visitors are no longer allowed to enter Correctional facilities while in the possession of any electronic gadgets such as cellphones, recorders and cameras.

His Majesty’s Correctional Services Public Relations Officer Senior Superintendent Bongani Khumalo confirmed the barring of the inmate’s relatives from the institution.
“One of our mandates as His Majesty’s Correctional Services is to provide security to all inmates, whether they are inside our premises or not. For every person who visits an inmate there is an officer present during the duration of their conversation and he has to hear everything that is said. We search all persons to prevent sneaking in of prohibited items,” Khumalo said.

He said whether or not the said inmate was sick was not an issue, because traditional medicine was not allowed inside the institution.
He explained that the health of a person, once in the custody of His Majesty’s Correctional Services, was the sole responsibility of the Commissioner General Mzuthini Ntshangase. He said all items that are prohibited in the institution are listed at entrances of all the centres in the different parts of the country.

“Weapons, cellphones, cameras and traditional medicine are not allowed into our centres. We are aware that as Swazis, we believe that some illnesses may be healed the traditional way, but it is not allowed into our centres, because the health of inmates is our sole responsibility. We have had instances where people bring traditional medicine for inmates,” Khumalo said.

“In such cases, we search and engage the people who bring such and inform them that it is prohibited. The people are not banned on the first instance, but if they continue to bring or sneak in prohibited articles even after being warned, the station officer of that institution is at liberty to ban them from visiting their relatives as a deterrent,” Khumalo said.

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