Prisoner in alleged ‘suicide bid’
An awaiting prisoner in a pink and grey top at Johannesburg Correctional service ( Sun City ) on an attempt suicide.162 Picture: Matthews Baloyi 3/26/2012 An awaiting prisoner in a pink and grey top at Johannesburg Correctional service ( Sun City ) on an attempt suicide.162 Picture: Matthews Baloyi 3/26/2012
Police negotiators had to work hard on Monday to try to convince an unknown man to climb down from a wall of the Johannesburg Correctional Centre, known as Sun City.
An SAPS negotiator was eventually able to talk the man down at about 10.30pm. He climbed down by himself and wasn’t injured in the incident.
The awaiting-trial prisoner was taken into custody.
The negotiators had tried to get the prisoner, who sat on a wall about three storeys high, to abandon what was believed to be a suicide threat.
Earlier in the day, those passing by the prison watched as the man, dressed in a top with pink sleeves and a woollen hat, perched atop the wall.
He could be seen from a distance looking up and down while sitting on the wall, with prison authorities standing over the roof, looking at him.
Gauteng correctional services regional commissioner Teboho Mokoena said the detainee had scaled up the prison wall at Medium B around noon.
He said police negotiators had been called in at about 5pm to talk him into climbing down.
He could not say if the man was threatening suicide, but said he was “sitting in a precarious position and could get seriously or fatally injured if he attempts to jump”.
“We have allowed police negotiators to handle the situation, with the purpose of finding out from him what led him up there and how we can attend to his needs,” said Mokoena.
While negotiators engaged him, the man – who cannot be named – could be seen changing his sitting position from time to time and, at one stage, he had his legs hanging down the wall.
Apparently, he was demanding that he be released because he was on trial for a crime he had not committed.
No official comment could be drawn from the officials on the man’s demands.
Mokoena also could not be drawn into commenting on how the detainee had managed to get out of the prison warders’ sight and ended up on the wall.
Prison workers said it was possible the man could have escaped the guards’ attention because, in some situations, two warders watched over about 900 prisoners.
Asked if anyone would be held responsible, Mokoena said: “I can’t say if anything will be done, but a proper investigation will be launched into what happened.” - The Star