THIS year has already seen scores of injuries and fatalities within South African prison walls.
- On January 8, about 50 inmates at Groenpunt Prison in Free State were injured in a stampede when police entered the facility.
A riot broke out late that day when prisoners refused to eat and started setting fires. An inmate later died.
- On January 18, two inmates were killed and 65 were injured in a mass fight started by gangsters in a Port Elizabeth jail.
Two awaiting trial detainees died and 17 were hospitalised.
- On January 25, a Pollsmoor Prison inmate was stabbed 21 times during a gang fight which left nine others injured. Five offenders were hospitalised.
- It was the second fight that had broken out at Pollsmoor that week.
Prisons trail of mayhem
THIS year has already seen scores of injuries and fatalities within South African prison walls.
A riot broke out late that day when prisoners refused to eat and started setting fires. An inmate later died.
Two awaiting trial detainees died and 17 were hospitalised.