A proposal to use underground mine shafts as "super maximum security prisons" in South Africa has been slammed by the country's Anglican bishops as callous and offensive.
On Tuesday (4 March), Khulekani Sitole, Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, told a press conference: "There are criminals within our system who have made it clear that they are not prepared to conform to the norms of a democratic society - people like murderers, rapists and armed robbers who repeatedly transgress.
"They are animals and must never see daylight again," he said.
The proposal to use disused mines follows increasing overcrowding in prisons and a high number of prison escapes. According to figures from last year, most of the country's 236 prisons were overcrowded, with about 60 prisoners squeezed into a cell designed for 18 people.
The Anglican Synod of Bishops said in a statement released in Johannesburg yesterday (5 March) that it was "deeply shocked and offended by the callous suggestion".
Mr Sitole's reference to murderers and rapists as animals "leaves one shuddering as to how prisoners are treated at present".
Mr Sitole's statements came in the same week as a call by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, for urgent attention to be paid to the issue of prison reform.
The Archbishop made his call on Sunday during a pilgrimage to Robben Island, the infamous island prison for political prisoners off Cape Town during the apartheid era. He and President Nelson Mandela had been incarcerated there.
"We have some of the most overcrowded prisons in the world," Archbishop Ndungane said. "I believe the time has thus come for us, as a nation, to address prison reform with the seriousness it deserves. Prison reform is long overdue.
"It is not a new issue for the church to address, although we have not done it in a sustainable way in this land," Archbishop Ndungane said.
Other non-governmental organisations and human rights groups have reacted with outrage to the proposal to use old underground mine shafts as prisons. Golden Miles Budhu, president of the South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights, described it as a "barbaric proposal".
Article from: ENI by Noel Bruyns