Building a caring correctional system that truly belongs to all BRANCH CORRECTIONS

Parliament :Cape Town: 09 June 2006

Presentation by Department of Correctional Services to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

To brief the Portfolio Committee on the fire incident, the investigation and the current processes flowing from the findings of the investigation.

BACKGROUND• The inmate was identified as Marilyn Syfers,

19 years old according to the warrant of detention, serving a sentence of 22 months and 80 days for theft, house breaking and contempt of court.

• She was sentenced on 19 July 2005 at Swellendam and referred to Worcester Female Correctional Centre for incarceration.

• During August 2005 she was transferred to Pollsmoor Female Centre.

• She is originally from Swellendam and was raised by her grandmother who is 82 years old.

• Her mother passed away when she was still very young.

• Her biological father is residing in Swellendam but never took responsibility for his daughter.

• No visits were received from the family.

• The Head Female Correctional Centre through Community Corrections arranged telephonic communication for Marilyn Syfers with her grandmother who stayed in Swellendam.

• The late offender was participating in various rehabilitation programmes:– Athletics– Soccer

• Social work services• Spiritual care

• After consultation with the family on 5 April 2006 the grandmother indicated to management that financially she will not be able to carry the burial costs, as she is a pensioner.

• The Department have taken the responsibility for the burial cost.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE FEMALE CORRECTIONAL CENTRE

• The Female Correctional Centre has been declared a Centre of Excellence in the Western Cape Region during August 2004.

• There are 89 officials on the establishment of the Female Centre.

• On 4 April 2006 there were 309 offenders at the Female Centre.

• Pollsmoor management has declared the Female Centre as a smoke free Centre for both members and offenders.

APPOINTMENT OF INVESTIGATION TEAM

• Appointment of investigation team: 5 April 2006

• Terms of reference:o Investigation into the circumstances, adherence to

policy, legislative prescripts and administrative functions that caused the incident

o Recommendations amongst others, shortcomings and preventative measures to prevent re-occurrence

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS AS PER FORMAL INVESTIGATION

THE DAY OF 3 APRIL 2006

• The deceased offender Marilyn Syfers was incarcerated at the Female Centre, single cell, sharing with one other offender.

• On Monday 3 April 2006, deceased offender Marilyn Syfers was in the juvenile section having breakfast with other offenders.

• After breakfast deceased offender refused to go into the cell demanding the attention of her case officer.

• She was informed that her case officer was

attending a Frontline Management Course from 3 April until 7 April 2006 but that another member (Case Management Supervisor) will attend to her request and needs.

• The offender still refused to cooperate. In the juvenile section further attempts were made by several officials to convince her to cooperate and go into her cell, but it appeared to be unsuccessful.

• The offender was placed back into the cell with the assistance of three female officials.

• The offender then opened the taps, started breaking the windows and verbally abusing the members to the extent threatening physically harming officials.

• More members were called in to stabilize the situation. A member closed the taps and the offender, after instruction, cooperated with the members present.

• She was handcuffed and then taken to the acting Head of the Correctional Centre.

• After the Acting Head heard both parties, she tried to persuade the offender to cooperate, but without success. The deceased offender continued with verbal abuse and threatened some of the officials present with physical harm.

• Based on the aggression, non-cooperation and the physical threats displayed to officials by the offender, the acting Head gave an instruction that the offender should be placed in the single cells (special care unit) and be mechanically restrained. (Section 30 and 31 of Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998).

• She was taken to the Special Care Unit where the instruction of the acting Head of Centre was executed. The acting Head of Centre gave a verbal instruction to the Centre Coordinator: Care to monitor the behaviour of the offender for the duration of the dayshift. The acting Head of Centre was briefed later during the day that the non-cooperation and aggression of the offender continued. The offender refused to take all the toiletries and her meals.

• According to the acting Head of Centre, she gave a verbal instruction to the nightshift to monitor the offender. The Unit Manager left the outside door of the cell open for better observation.

THE DAY OF 4 APRIL 2006

Based on the findings of the investigation, the sequences of events were as follow:• The night shift personnel reported that there

were no complaints with regard to the offender’s safety and behaviour.

• During the morning briefing the acting Head briefed and instructed officials of the special care unit to continue monitoring the offender as the unit manager was on leave for the day.

• The acting Head of the Female Centre instructed that the offender continued to be kept in mechanical restraints.

• According to the acting Head of Centre she visited the offender twice, but the behaviour of the offender was still the same.

• As the day progressed the offender bathed and exercised, but refused to take meals and only drank coffee.

• The inmate continued to be mechanically restrained as per instruction of the acting Head of the Female Centre.

• The offender was not visited by a medical official as they were not on duty.

• By knock-off time, the member in charge of first watch (16:00 – 24:00) night shift, was not on duty yet. The other members booked on duty for first watch were in the Reception Office busy with the searching of new admissions.

• According to the acting Head of Centre, she instructed an official to remain behind, monitor the offender and carry this instruction over to the member in charge of night duty. The Acting Head of Centre then went off duty.

• According to the acting Head of Centre, she met the first watch member in charge outside the perimeter gate and informed her that the “standby member” will give her further instructions.

• As indicated, were all first watch members on duty for the shift busy with searching 18 new admissions at the reception office, therefore leaving the sections unguarded.

• It was during this time that another offender from the adjacent single cell passed tobacco and “hondjie” (tightly rolled-up toilet paper) to offender Marilyn Syfers which she used to set the cell alight.

• While the first watch members were busy at the reception office, they heard the shouting of offenders from the units, two officials ran to the single cells to find out what was wrong.

• On arrival at the single cells they found the one cell burning and the whole unit was covered with smoke.

• Due to this, they were unable to have a clear idea what was happening and one official went to fetch the master key to open the cell while the other one was trying to extinguish the fire.

• When the smoke subsided, the inmate was already dead and the body position indicated that she was still chained to the grill.

• The doctor was called who declared the offender dead.

• The matter was reported to the SAPS.

• According to policy, investigations into unnatural deaths are conducted on four (4) levels, namely departmental investigation, SAPS, Post Mortem Inquiry and the Office of the Inspecting Judge.

• An investigation team was appointed on 5 April 2006 by the acting Regional Commissioner and was led by a Senior Manager (Director).

INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT

• The investigation report was completed on 7 April 2006 and submitted to the acting Regional Commissioner on 8 April 2006.

• On Monday, 10 April 2006 the investigation was finalized and was handed to the Area Commissioner on 11 April 2006 to implement the decisions.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The main findings of the investigation indicatedthat:

• the deceased offender was aggressive, not cooperating, damaged state property and verbally abused members to the extent of threatening to harm them physically.

• the non-adherence to the Correctional Services Act, Departmental policies and procedures contributed to the tragic death of the deceased offender.

The following areas were inter alia highlighted:

• Use of segregation (Section 30 of Act 111 of 1998);

• Use of mechanical restraints (Section 31 of Act 111 of 1998);

• Monitoring the well-being of the deceased offender;

• Issuing and management of special instructions by management of the centre, in relation to the well-being of the deceased offender.

ACTION STEPS (DECISIONS) EMANATING FROM THE INVESTIGATION REPORT

• Two (2) members were suspended from duty as from 25 April 2006.

• Disciplinary actions are taken against four members. An initiator and chairperson have already been appointed to handle the disciplinary cases.

• An investigation was launched into the non-availability of medical staff at the Centre on 3 and 4 April 2006. The investigation is still in progress.

• Following the previous unfortunate incidents of fires at Pollsmoor Admission Centre during 2004, the National Logistics Directorate of the Department is still pursuing the procurement of non-flammable mattresses for all Correctional Centers.

o Seven (7) different types of foam mattresses samples were received and will be submitted to the SABS for flammability and toxicity testing. Based on the testing results and recommendations Management will decide on suitable foam mattresses to be utilized by the Department.

• The Post-mortem report confirms the cause of death as “due to burning”.

• The SAPS investigation is still awaited.

• A copy of the investigation has been forwarded to the Offices of the Minister, National Head Office of the Department and the Inspecting Judge.

OTHER REMEDIAL ACTIONS

• All Heads of Correctional Centers have been sensitized in writing to comply with the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 regarding the clause of solitary confinement and segregation.

• A lock-up team has been activated on 8 May 2006 to deal with searching and locking-up of late admissions from the courts, so as to not utilize members booked in sections for this task. All Heads of Correctional Centers were also sensitized in writing on the utilization of members working nightshift.

• An Occupational Health and Safety inspection was conducted at the Female Correctional Center on 7 April 2006. All fire extinguishers were found to be in working condition and the training of member on utilization of the equipment has been scheduled. Members at all divisions and institutions were identified to form part of the Emergency Action Committee (fire fighting, evacuation and fire marshals).

• The Area Commissioner of Pollsmoor is currently undertaking a feasibility study, as a matter of urgency, into installing smoke detectors, a sprinkler system and a fire alarm that is directly linked with the local fire department.

• A medical doctor was appointed for Pollsmoor.• A psychologist was appointed for the female

Correctional Centre.• There was a review of, in particular, the existing

development and care programs and activities at the Female Centre, provided by both the Department and a number of NGO’s. In this, there was a clear commitment to the continuation and extension, of the following existing programs / activities and the involvement of NGO’s in providing the following programs:

Training people with dogs as well as cats Turning point People caring for pregnant ladies Prison Hope Ministry for church service and

counseling Gamblers anonymous for counseling Prison Broad Casting Network – training

inmates on radio broadcasting CRED is for creative writing and life skills NICRO also for life skills Candle light for candle making

Life choices for life skills special for the

unsentenced juveniles Beauty for ashes is for HIV / Aids and

terminal ill people Offender Rehabilitation Path implementation There is a hair salon where the inmates are

trained with skills Inmates are also trained on athletics, soccer

and rugby Laundry Trained at workshops / textiles Child minder

The members involved were attended to by the psychologist currently doing community service at Pollsmoor.

Thank you

Building a caring correctional system that

truly belongs to all