Former prisoner speaks about conditions at Boys Prison

| Friday January 28, 2011 00:00

'I never witnessed any homosexual sex or heard that it was being practiced in that prison.  I had indeed heard such stories and was scared for my life when I got there. I could not sleep fearing that I would be raped at night.

A few days passed and nothing happened. We were sleeping in a hall about 30 cm away from each other with enough light to see all corners. This is something that we just hear about but in that prison it does not happen. If a prisoner contracts any HIV inside it would be from using the same needles to tattoo themselves and the same clippers to shave their hair.

We know when a prisoner is kept behind bars it is meant to strip them of their rights but that does not mean that they should be put in hazardous situations that expose them to diseases and make them a burden to their families when they have been released. For starters the ablution block is so dirty with walls lined with slime and I suspect that no one ever cleans them. There were only three showers and four toilets for about 140 prisoners during the time that I was serving time.

So many people are getting skin diseases such as rash. According to the Prisons' Act, every week a medical doctor is required to inspect sanitation facilities for washing and cooking in order to ascertain whether the conditions are likely to be dangerous to the prisoners health.  For the four months that I was there I never saw that medical officer coming to inspect the prison facilities.

There is a regulation that all prisoners are expected to keep short hair and therefore government buys electric hair clippers for them. When I was there, there was only one machine to be used by the 140 prisoners. The painful part is that there are inmates already showing symptoms of HIV/AIDS and others with sores all over their bodies, not that they should be discriminated against but I believe that there should be caution when sharing such equipment with them. There are times when prisoners have requested that they be given methylated spirits to sterilise the clippers and they were told that there was none.  This is shocking for a new prisoner, disheartening and frustrating. I never used that machine but requested my wife to bring me one from outside. There are many prisoners who have had their families bring them clippers but chances of sharing without sterilising are high too.

Prisoners just cut their hair and leave it wherever they have been sitting and so you will find hair all over the place.

The electricity used for the clippers is dragged from a hall by an extension less than 20m. You are given a chord with wires exposed at the end to tie on your clippers to connect electricity and the extension connected to the sockets is also bare. Imagine what would happen in that situation if someone switches it on before you can tie the bare ends to the clippers?

As for the kitchen you would never think it is a place where food is prepared for human beings. The kitchen is never swept but rather a hosepipe is used to wash away the dirt that passes through a huge hole that has been opened in a corner. The same hole is never closed and there are cats that come and go after licking and eating whatever they find. The prisoners that cook do not have proper clothing and they are generally unhygienic people.

Imagine someone wearing dirty clothes that look they have not been washed in a long time dishing food for you?

We are told that after prisoners are locked in for the night those prisoners that cook are the same that are supposed to wash the ablution blocks and collect garbage to one collection point. The way that they conduct themselves they do not deserve to be even cooking for other people.  Most days, prisoners are served stale food.

You cannot refuse to eat because that is the only food you will get for the day. When one is remanded in custody, an old and worn out uniform is thrown at you to wash and wear. In this age of so many diseases, how can anyone be expected to wash somebody's dirty clothes? When you get out you will not find all the items that were supposed to be in safekeeping.   If you see the prison warders talking to the prisoners you will not know the difference between the two. There is no discipline and respect between the two and this is not shocking after witnessing how the Acting Deputy Commissioner addressed the prisoners when he was introduced late last year.

He told all those who were supplementing their diets to stop doing so and instead start taking ARVs as they are the only answer to those suffering from HIV. That was unnecessary seeing that not all were suffering from HIV and others had a doctor's recommendation to supplement their diets. It is everybody's constitutional right to follow a church denomination of his or her choice but everyone is forced to attend morning church sessions conducted by a prison chaplan. I wonder which God will ever listen to a pastor who on a certain occasion called two out of three prisoners for prayers just before they went for an appeal hearing at Lobatse High Court and this was because the two that he favoured were prominent members of the society and the third was a nobody. Prison chaplains are supposed to give the prisoners hope that being locked up is not the end of the world and help them rebuild their lives but this is just talk and no action at the Boys Prison.'