Female Warder and prisoner who were involved in an earlier scandal. Photo: Timeslive
A senior official of the Prisons and Correctional services has been suspended and is facing possible disciplinary action and expulsion following another sex scandal involving a prison inmate in a Durban prison recently.
The incident is reported to have happened at the Durban Westville Female Correctional Centre, where a male correctional officer is said to have become intimate with a female prisoner in the facility’s conference room where the two lovebirds were caught in the act. This female inmate is said to be serving a twenty-year sentence for murder. This then led to the suspension of the official from his official duties.
Speaking in response to the allegations, the Correctional Services Provincial Department spokesman, Thulani Mdluli had this to say about the allegations, “We have received these disgusting allegations and the internal departmental investigation is underway. The official in question is currently put on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation.” He added that the departmental code of conduct was against such behavior as had been shown by the official in question.
The incident was also confirmed by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), whose provincial secretary Nthabeleng Molefe said the allegations that were being faced by the correctional officer were quite serious, adding that “We are aware of the matter and the department is busy with internal processes. We condemn the relationship between inmates and our members because that puts the lives of both members and inmates in danger.”
This comes hot on the heels of another similar incident that happened at Ncome in KZN, which led to the expulsion of the official in question. In the middle of March, social media was awash with images and videos of the sex romp between a male prisoner and a female warden at Ncome Correctional Facility. This led to the dismissal of the female correctional officer earlier this month, while her lover was moved to another facility albeit having been reclassified to a maximum level of security.
