19/03/2003 21:13 - (SA)

Cape Town - A total of 1 443 prisoners died in South Africa's jails last year, Correctional Services minister Ben Skosana said on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, he said 1389 of these had been "natural deaths", and 54 prisoners had "died as a result of unnatural deaths".

Replying to a separate question, he said there had been four cases of sodomy and one of rape reported to the authorities in South African prisons during the same period.