Prison staff suffer from work stress

On any given day a single prison official can find himself up against 100 to 350 inmates. Poor working conditions, long hours and fear of losing their lives is normal for prison officials.

These conditions are highlighted in a report released by Just Detention International (JDI) South Africa today after it conducted research in a Johannesburg correctional facility.

“On a daily basis when you put on a uniform you don’t know whether you will be going back home or if you will be taken to the hospital. It’s luck we are surviving every day,” one officer told the researchers.

The report reveals:

lBetween four and 14 warders supervise 1200 to 1400 prisoners on any given day;

• At night there is a “stark absence” of staff, rendering those on duty “relatively ineffective”;
• Officers on night duty often work two 18-hour shifts back-to-back; and
• During the weekend, only half of the officers are on duty.

Last week, nine prison warders suffered a suspected gang-related attack at Drakenstein prison, near Paarl in the Western Cape.

The Department of Justice and Correctional Services reported in its 2013-14 annual report 682 of its 41825 staff members were injured on duty in that year.

Officers told researchers of attacks such as hot porridge thrown at a warder and another who was hit with a padlock when opening a cell door.

One warder saw an inmate stab one of his colleagues to death.

“Staff may be targets of gang ritual attacks, where senior gang members are required to stab an officer as part of establishing or enacting their seniority,” officers said.

At night, officers have to do their jobs without tools such as torches for patrols, radios to communicate and support staff on standby.

“We are working under very dangerous conditions. It’s dark, the torches are dead,” one warder said.

It can take months for a radio, torch or a light to be repaired.

The report related an incident when a fire broke out in a cell at night when an official was on duty alone. He was unable to summon help in time and one inmate died.

Sasha Gear, programme director for JDI SA, said problems facing prison officials are the same across the country. She said officials are under “emotional and psychological strain”.

One warder explained: “You wouldn’t understand the baggage we carry ... There is this violence nobody notices – the psychological done by the system – the department – to their own officials.”

Another warder described feeling “overstretched and unsupported” because of unsafe working conditions.

“What about my security? Sometimes I am alone here with plus-minus 300 prisoner. I am a human being. Sometimes I get violent towards them because I feel no one is helping me.”

“If you expect people to work under those conditions, they will look for reasons to not come to work,” Lukas Muntingh of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative said, explaining the problem of absenteeism that exacerbates staff shortages.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesman Theto Mahlakoana said they were concerned by the “persisting nature” of violence by inmates on officers in prisons, adding the problem might be solved by filling vacant posts.

The Department of Justice and Correctional Services had not responded to questions by the time of going to print. — narseea@timesmedia.co.za