Raid at 'Sun City' prison fails to curb contraband access as prisoners continue to enjoy ‘outside perks’

Correctional service officers and prisoners during raid at Johannesburg Correctional Services centre in Johannesburg, South Africa on 22 December 2015. (File photo: Gallo Images / Beeld / Denzil Maregele)

By Michelle Banda

6 Sep 2024

Despite a high-profile raid at "Sun City" prison, prisoners continue to access cellphones and other luxuries behind bars. The Department of Correctional Services claims it is making efforts to curb this, but issues of staff complicity and weak enforcement persist.

A raid at Johannesburg Correctional Centre, commonly known as Sun City Prison, in July 2024 was meant to crack down on contraband like cellphones, weapons, and drugs. Yet it appears that little has changed, with prisoners still enjoying access to these banned items.

The raid, part of a broader effort to address corruption and security lapses in South Africa’s prisons, saw the seizure of items such as PlayStations, cellphones, and drugs. But many inmates continue to live in comfort and remain able to communicate with the outside world with ease.

A source who spoke to Daily Maverick revealed that he has been in regular contact with his ex-boyfriend, a Mozambican national who has been behind bars since May 2024. The prisoner was arrested after forcing his way into the source’s home during a domestic dispute.

Denied bail

“I was scared he was going to harm me, so I called the police,” the source explained. The prisoner was denied bail for being an illegal immigrant with an expired passport, and his case is ongoing at the Orlando Magistrate’s court.

According to the source, the prisoner has been calling him regularly from Sun City Prison.

“He called me last week, bragging about how easy life is in prison and that sending him there didn’t make his life difficult. He even said he knows my movements and what I say about him,” he said.

The source said the prisoner had been requesting betting vouchers, airtime, and eventually R500 for basic prison comforts like food, blankets, and cigarettes. The source said he sent vouchers and airtime, but drew the line at sending money, refusing the last request which led to the breakdown in their communication on Sunday.

However, the source is not the only one hearing from inmates at Suncity. Another X (formerly Twitter) user, Spencer 9nine, tweeted about a similar experience: “Sun City prison was raided last month, but prisoners there already have cellphones again. I was surprised that someone from there is chatting with my colleague every day via WhatsApp video call.”

This situation highlights a broader issue in South Africa’s prisons, where raids seem ineffective in preventing inmates from accessing banned items. The raid in July at Sun City followed a similar scandal at Goodwood Prison in Cape Town, where an inmate posted a video boasting about living a “soft life” in jail.

Hello haters, they put us in prison and you think we are suffering? No, my brother, we are doing extremely fine.

The inmate is heard in the one-minute-30-second video saying: “Hello haters, they put us in prison and you think we are suffering? No, my brother, we are doing extremely fine. Look how happy we are. This morning we had breakfast, in the afternoon we had lunch, and we are about to have dinner. We are happy, and we are not even paying rent, we are not buying electricity, and we don’t even cook, they give us food for free. They give us toiletries for free, and the education is free. You think we are suffering, we are not suffering.”

Daily Maverick reached out to the Department of Correctional Services for comment on how it prevents prisoners from obtaining prohibited items, and asked about the challenges and successes of the raid. The inquiry also focused on how the department vets staff, as staff complicity often plays a role in prisoners obtaining contraband. The department was also asked about any disciplinary actions taken against staff following the raid, and what lessons had been learned from the high-profile Thabo Bester case, which exposed deep-seated corruption in South Africa’s prison system.

Singabakho Nxumalo, the spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services, responded, stating that the department employed various measures to prevent the smuggling of prohibited items, including regular searches, intelligence gathering, and technological advancements.

“Raids do assist in cleaning up our facilities of prohibited items,” said Nxumalo. “A number of items were removed during the raids, including those that were not permitted. This has raised concerns about supervision, and the department is addressing it.”

Nxumalo said that staff vetting was a priority for the department.

“We take staff vetting seriously to prevent internal corruption, conducting regular background checks, training, and monitoring to ensure staff integrity,” he said.

Bags of dagga, makeshift screwdrivers, daggers, spoons, cellphones, chargers, kettle elements, plugs and home-made weights for lifting were confiscated during an impromptu raid. The raid is part of Operation Vala, which began at prisons countrywide on November 4. Prisoners during raid at Johannesburg Correctional Services centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 22 December 2015. (File photo: Gallo Images / Beeld / Denzil Maregele)

On the question of whether there had been follow-up visits to Sun City Prison since the raid, Nxumalo confirmed that additional searches had taken place to assess the situation.

“Regular searches are part of our standard operating procedures. Raids are not a one-off exercise; they help us remove any new contraband that might have been smuggled in afterward,” Nxumalo said.

‘Focusing on holding staff accountable’

He added that the department was also focusing on holding staff accountable, with those caught smuggling contraband being subjected to disciplinary processes and, in some cases, criminal proceedings.

“We are clear that such individuals have no place in our employ.”

As the Thabo Bester case revealed, corruption runs deep within the system, and without concrete action, raids like those at Sun City may prove ineffective in the long term. These were sentiments shared by Miles Bhudu of the South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights speaking to Newzroom Afrika following the widely circulated video of a Zimbabwean inmate bragging about his cushy life in Goodwood Prison.

“The fact is, this happens when a department has run out of ideas. The Department of Correctional Services abandoned its mandate years ago. That illegal, undocumented Zimbabwean was set up by locals as part of a protest—they (local inmates) want attention, and this is their way to get it. Raids across the country are making prisoners, especially those already sentenced, very angry. This could explode, and the department won’t be able to control it.”

Bhudu went on to criticise the culture within the department: “They are more interested in their month-end cheque and the perks of being a correctional officer who will wear a brown uniform and shiny shoes, eat prison food, and maintain the correctional service as a glorified Bantustan. We need to address this issue — it’s gone too far. Those complicit in perpetuating this rot must be identified and jailed.”

(A Bantustan was a territory designated for black inhabitants during apartheid in South Africa.) DM

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Denied bail

‘Focusing on holding staff accountable’