Africa News
Assaults in South African jails "skyrocket"
Oct 11, 2011, 14:54 GMT
Johannesburg - Prisoners in South Africa are increasingly falling victim to violence despite increased funding for protection, parliament was told on Tuesday.
Assaults on prisoners 'skyrocketed' from 83 per 10,000 prisoners during 2008-09 fiscal year to 317 assaults per 10,000 this year, according to parliamentary researcher Mpho Mathabathe.
The rise comes despite an investment of over 5.1 billion rand (630 million dollars) allocated for the last fiscal year to the security programme in jails, according to a report in the Business Day newspaper.
Safety in South African prisons was recently put under the international spotlight when British citizen Shrien Dewani argued against being sent to South Africa to face trial over the murder of his wife.
Dewani, who says he is innocent, claimed he would be unsafe in a South African jail, but a judge ruled against him and British Home Secretary Theresa May in September signed an order for his extradition.
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