British G4S, world’s largest security company and London Olympic game security provider, is under fire for allegedly torturing, electroshocking and forcibly drugging inmates of a S. African prison. G4S, which was running the jail, denies the allegations.
The allegations emerged on October, 9 South when Africa's
Department of Correctional Services announced that it was taking
over the management of 3,000 inmates at Mangaung correctional
center as "the contractor [G4S] has lost effective control of
the facility”. The decision was provoked by a series of
stabbings, riots, strikes and a hostage taking in the prison.
Based on a year-long investigation, the Wits Justice Project
(WJP) alleged cases of mistreatment and miscarriages of justice
in South Africa's prison.
Prisoners, warders and health care workers told WJP that
involuntary medication was regularly practiced.
‘No, no, no… I’m not a donkey'
Allegations of drugging inmates have been also supported by a
footage that was uncovered during a research project conducted at
the Mangaung Correctional Centre near Bloemfontein, roughly 400
km from Johannesburg.
The video, shot on July, 24, allegedly depicts what researchers
say is electrocution and inmates having medication forced upon
them.
It was leaked after the South African government had taken over
control of the facility after G4S dismissed 330 warders following
strikes in August and September.
Shot by the prison's emergency security team (EST), which is
legally tasked to film all its actions, the video shows inmate
Bheki Dlamini, serving a 21-year sentence for armed robbery,
being injected involuntarily.
"I am not a donkey," Dlamini shouts loudly, pleading
"No, no, no" as five men hold him down and drag him to a
room where they wrestle him, and then a nurse is called.
A staff member at the prison hospital, who requested anonymity,
has alleged that inmates were injected with anti-psychotic drugs
Clopixol Depot, Risperdal, Etomine and Modecate, which have
life-threatening side effects and cause memory loss, muscle
rigidity and strokes.
According to WJP, these drugs have been used at the prison up to
five times a week, sometimes on inmates, who showed no sign of
being psychotic.
In the case of Dlamini, according to medical files, he was not a
psychotic or schizophrenic and did not need any anti-psychotic
drugs.
"Dlamini had complained to a warder that he did not like the
Vienna sausages they served him; he demanded that the warder
should bring him 'real meat'," said Egon Oswald, a human
rights lawyer, who represents Dlamini. “The warder told him
the emergency security team would deal with him.”
Oswald, who spoke to Dlamini on October18, said his client was
injected with the antipsychotic drug Etomine.
The EST members, who anonymously spoke to the WJP, claim they had
no idea what the inmates were injected with. They alleged that
only prisoners with psychiatric problems or were aggressive
received the involuntary treatment.
According to Dlamini’s accounts cited by WJP, the nurse, who was
called to give him an injection, refused to do so as she claimed
it was unlawful to inject someone without a prescription.
However, the "Ninjas", as the emergency security team is dubbed,
forced her to inject.
Ruth Hopkins, an investigative journalist with the Wits group,
said she has documented about 20 cases of forced injections of
anti-psychotic drugs.
Electroshock as a means ‘to instil fear in inmates’
The WJP team also heard accounts of electric shocks and beatings
from almost 30 prisoners by the facility’s staff.
"Some said they would pass out when the shocks became too
intense," said Ruth Hopkins.
"A pattern that emerged throughout my investigation is that
inmates who were considered difficult or who were involved in
some problem, they would take them to the single cells in the
prison, strip them naked, pour water over them, put them on a
metal bed frame and use these electroshock shields to shock
them,” she revealed.
A former G4S employee, who did not wish to be named, confirmed to
BBC Radio, as said by the Guardian, that security guards used
electric shields “sometimes” because they “were understaffed” or
“to instil fear in the inmates."
"We went overboard, so to say: sometimes you go and shock them
individually in a segregation unit just to make sure they could
be afraid of us," he said. "The management was very happy
with the results and with some of the incidents if it was during
the week, then the official was there at the center and they
would respond with us and we do these things with them, in their
presence."
Pending investigation: ‘Will leave no stone unturned’
In response to the most recent allegations, South Africa's
Correctional Services Minister, Sibusiso Ndebele, promised an
exhaustive investigation.
"As the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), we view
these allegations, of forcibly injecting offenders with
antipsychotic medication and using electroshocks to subdue and
control them, in a very serious light," he said in a formal
statement on October, 25. "We will leave no stone unturned
in this investigation, in order to ensure that those implicated
in such inhumane acts face the consequences of their actions."
Meanwhile, the British security group has denied any wrongdoing,
insisting its staff had not electrocuted and drugged prisoners at
South Africa's Mangaung prison.
"We do not use any form of torture or shock treatment," a
G4S spokeswoman said on Monday.
G4S claims the staff also does not have access to medication.
"All medical decisions for inmates are handled and addressed
by independent certified medical staff," the spokeswoman
said.
The security group G4S insisted that the medical treatment of
prisoners was managed by a third company.
"The health and treatment of inmates are managed by a
reputable third-party medical center. G4S staff members do not
have access to, nor do they administer, any medication," G4S
said.
It has called the allegations “unsubstantiated” and
“taken from anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees
and convicted criminals."
Despite the recent development, G4S head of operations in Africa,
Andy Baker, said that he expected the company to be given back
control of the prison in the near future.
"It's difficult in an environment with so many people and so
many moving parts to categorically state that there has never
been somebody stepping over the line. To my knowledge there has
never been an abuse of this type of nature," Baker said in
the interview with the BBC.
G4S, the world's largest security company, “official provider
of security” for the Olympic Games in London, has seen its
reputation crumble after recent incidents.
It has been informally accused of human rights abuses in the
Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. G4S provided equipment
for several Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West
Bank as well as for security systems at the Ofer detention center
in Ramallah.
The facility houses a jail and a military court, where
Palestinian political prisoners, including children, are
allegedly held and tortured.
Despite that, the British government handed over the Olympic
Games' security to the company. The move was questioned in the
British Parliament, which strongly criticized the detention
center in Ramallah for human rights abuses.
In one of the recent reports, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons
reported that Oakwood prison, in Staffordshire, England, which
G4S has been running since it opened in April 2012, is failing to
provide prisoners basic healthcare and sanitation. Moreover, the
chief prison inspector found drugs were freely available to
inmates.