PO BOX  947

                                                ANERLEY

                                                4230                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                        FAX   039-6812166

                                                                        Memory Pieterse (chairperson)                  

                                                                        0768813633

                                                                        Wesley Albertyn (treasurer)

                                                                        0763954902

                                                                        Lindsay Stephen  (secretary)                                                                                                              0768818330                                                                  

                                                                                                         02 DECEMBER 2006

ATTENTION : COMMISSIONER JACKIE SELEBE

                          The South African Police Force

                          selebej@saps.org.za

Dear Sir

GANG  RAPE  IN  POLICE  CELLS

I represent an organization called Together Against Abuse.

We are a network of people, organizations and businesses throughout South Africa, which deal with public issues.

It is with deep horror that we have become aware that gang rapes in our police holding cells and prisons is common practice, and even expected to happen as an acceptable fact, assumed to be part of the system.

Our cells, courtrooms and streets are flooded with crime.

The mental psyche of the criminal is s diverse as their fingerprints. Yet all cannot be painted with the same brush.

Crime has to be stopped. Especially crime within the prisons. Surely that is what they were built for?

If prisons become an in-effective tool of the judicial system, it becomes a matter of public concern, as the spiraling crime rate affects each and every person in this country.

Rape is a violent crime, which destroys human dignity.

Dignity is our democratic right. Even in the prisons, and at all times. Right throughout the night.

We have e-mailed a letter to the Port Shepstone SAP Commissioner Holloway on the 21^st of June 2006, of which we attach a copy for your perusal.

He kindly granted me an interview on the 9^th of October 2006, and assured us of his full co-operation in stifling crime within his jurisdiction, and to deal with the issues at hand to the best of his ability.

We would appreciate your response to the following problems:

1.                  THE OVERLAPSING OF TRIAL AWAITING TIME SERVED IN THE HOLDING CELLS.

All suspects should appear in front of a magistrate for a decision on their case matters within 48 hours of their arrest.

Yet, at times, the courts cannot finalized all the matters set up for their date, and refer suspects back to the police holding cells until time that another court date may be set.

Transportation of suspects from one area to another also adds to the problem.

Police stations which arrest suspects of criminal cases which occurred in other towns, are forced to detain these suspects inside their holding cells until such time that the suspect may be transported to the town in which the case matter was recorded.

Such transportation has to be arranged by the investigating officer of the case matter, which may take weeks, months and even years to finalize. Not forgetting the fact that the investigating officer may be on leave at the time the arrest of the suspect is made, or may even have been replaced.

The police cells are designed to carry law-evading suspects, not long-term prisoners.

This overlapping of trial awaiting time spent inside police holding cells add to the problem of overpopulating the cells, and creating gangs.

It is logical that the suspect that has spent more time in a particular cell than his fellow inmates, would feel more at home than the latter. Thus it would be reasonable to expect different levels of rank to occur between the long-term inmates and “new” inmates.

2.                  INTEGRATION OF HARDENED CRIMINALS WITH PETTY CRIMINALS

Until such time that a court of law has ruled that a suspect of crime is guilty of the offence he had been arrested for, the suspect is considered innocent.

The police do not have the right to categorize the suspect to the type of crime he is accused of.

This causes the total integration of hardened criminals with petty crime criminals, and even innocent suspects, within the holding cells.

The habits of the hardened criminal are enforced upon those around him, and are a bad influence on his softer fellow inmates.

The police should be given the authority to detain suspects separately according to the level of violence of the crime the suspect is detained for.

The suspect of an armed robbery case (physically violent), should not be detained in the same holding cell as a suspected cheque fraudster (not physically violent).

3.                  PERSONAL SAFETY OF SUSPECTS AND INMATES

Any person that is being detained by the law, is considered to be government property, and does not enjoy the freedom he would experience outside in the street or in the security of his own home.

Yet there remains one important right he is entitled to, namely his dignity.

Without dignity, there can be no pride. Without pride, all reason for rules and laws fade. It is therefore wise that our legislation rules for the conditions of incarceration to be consonant with human dignity.

There is no greater threat to the dignity of man when he is forced to act as a woman for the pleasure of other men.

The violent rape of a man’s body should never occur within the confines of a government institution, especially an institution that advocates safety, such as a police station.

If we cannot be safe within the walls of a police station, where else on earth can we be safe?

There is simply no excuse for the criminal mind to rule the house of the police, where the safety of our nation is being protected, nor our “correctional” services, where, if no correction can take place, where else will it?!

To date, the criminal factor has been successful in outsmarting the legal system. When he is stopped from conducting his criminal operations on the public streets, he simply takes his criminal habits into the judicial cells, and infects the lesser-experienced criminals with his corrupt mind, inflicting fear and pain upon those he uses in his power struggle against authority.

Fellow inmates dare not witness against him.

Not even the prison guards are safe from the power of the seasoned inmates.

Let technology help us in our struggle against the weakness of man.

Allow the silent eye of the closed circuit television camera help to restore order to the system.

These cameras are as small as the head of a matchstick, and can operate from any angle. Highly versatile, they may even be mounted outside the cell windows looking in.

They link up to a screen, which allows one person to monitor the actions of the inmates in up to 16 cells at the same time.

These actions are also recorded for review at a later time.

The system can be inter-linked to the extent that one station may monitor the screens of four other stations simultaneously to what is going on within its own station.

The time has come, Commissioner Selebe, that our system outwits the criminal.

I trust you will agree with me, that The Sooner, The Better!

Yours Sincerely

Memory Pieterse
pp Together Against Abuse