HOLE-Y MOLEY
ALLEGATIONS over security breaches at Pollsmoor Prison have arisen after a bandiet escaped from the mang on Sunday.
While Yanga Wayithi was busted yesterday after his escape on Sunday, insiders have revealed that he escaped through a broken fence near Westlake.
At the time, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) revealed that the 35-year-old inmate, who is serving a six-month sentence for theft and trespassing, was assigned to a work team responsible for maintaining the facility’s grounds.
According to a Daily Voice source this was the second escape in recent months and is a result of a broken fence.
The source says: “This guy is a monitor, which means he can walk freely to the area where he must work, however he must be under supervision.
“The area where he works is at the boundary of Westlake and that is where people can throw over drugs, so if he is not guarded or there are no personnel he can do whatever he likes.
“That dog unit he escaped from, there is no fence there. The razor fence that was there, they took it down thinking they would build a wall, but the project failed and the slabs are still laying around. I think he saw the opening in the fence.”
The source claims there are various security breaches which the management of the prison is aware of.
The insider adds: “The spot where he escaped, there are no cameras. This is the second escape. There are members who have been sent to another prison because there was an escape at the same institution, namely Medium C.
“That centre was supposed to be demolished because the inmates were escaping and going to get drunk in Westlake and come back [to the prison].
“The first escapee was caught in Westlake in December and this second guy who escaped, we were informed was spotted in Observatory.”
DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed Wayithi was re-arrested early on Wednesday morning and will now face additional criminal charges, but denies that there was an earlier escape.
Nxumalo also refuted claims of a hole in the fence where the escape took place and adds: “The cameras in the management area are jointly monitored by the department and an external service provider.
“Members of the public continuously try to smuggle contraband into the management area, but due to the joint monitoring we have over the past few months had numerous successes where contraband placed in the management area was confiscated.”