MPs raise concerns over Pollsmoor Prison's bathrooms, kitchen equipment

CAPE TOWN - The condition of bathrooms and broken kitchen equipment were among the problems raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) at Pollsmoor Prison, during an oversight visit at the facility.

Parliament's correctional services committee on Tuesday conducted a walkabout to inspect kitchens, clinics, bathrooms, a butchery, the juvenile centre and the section where mothers and babies are held.

Apart from some kitchen equipment, like 250-litre industrial cooking pots, not in working order, the kitchens inspected during the walkabout were clean.

At least two bathrooms inspected in the juvenile section appeared delapidated, but had also been cleaned, with no stench present, which would be expected in a single housing room in which more than 50 young men were being kept.

Patriotic Alliance (PA) chief whip, Marlon Daniels: "Well, I think this was just a show that was put up today. I do not believe that what we see here today is the daily run of the mill, I think these people prepared for us; they knew we were coming. I could detect that when we were coming through the kitchens, you could see the floor was cleaned."

This inmate, questioned by MPs during a workshop walkabout, agreed. 

"Just tell the truth, the people clean when the visitors are on their way then they inform you. When the visitors come, that same day they clean."

The committee said recommendations would now be made to resolve the problems noted during the visit.