Cape Town – Authorities are closely monitoring a situation in which two wardens from the Goodwood correctional facility were seriously injured after they were both stabbed by an offender.
According to the Department of Correctional Services, the wardens were unlocking one of the cells in order to prepare daily meals for the offenders at about 8 am on Sunday.
“It is believed that the incident is gang-related,” said DCS Spokesperson Simphiwe Xako in a statement on Monday.
“The two wardens were rushed to the nearby N1 City hospital where they were treated for the injuries and later discharged,” Xako confirmed.
Accounts received from other inmates revealed that an offender who had been transferred from St. Albans in Port Elizabeth had bragged to the other offenders that he was a general of the 28s gang.
Xako said that the prisoner was then immediately forced to prove his claims.
That is when he allegedly stabbed the officials who had opened the cells so that the offenders can have their breakfast.
At around noon on Sunday, members of the DCS Emergency Support Team were reinforced by almost 150 officers from the South African Police Services in conducting search-and-seizure operations in the affected cells at the correctional facility.
One cellular phone, a charger, sharp shaving blades and a few self-made knives were confiscated.
Police have since opened a criminal case and were still investigating the incident.
“The culprit was isolated from the rest of the offender population and is currently incarcerated in a single cell,” Xako said.
This incident follows similar gang-related prison attacks in recent months.
In January this year, four correctional officials had to be rushed to hospital after they had boiling water thrown at them by offenders whilst they were conducting a search operation at Pollsmoor’s Medium B section.
In response to the seemingly escalating gang-related prison violence, Western Cape Regional Commissioner Delekile Klaas held a meeting with the Provincial Commissioner of SAPS.
“This meeting’s focus centred around intensifying proactive and effective mechanisms of detecting any similar future potential incidents, the spiralling gang activities in correctional facilities around the Western Cape, and strengthening other areas of cooperation between the two institutions,” Xako said.
