Sanitary conditions and access to healthcare
22 January. Overcrowded and understaffed prisons around the country threaten the lives of inmates and staff. Detention conditions at St Albans prison are getting worse. The number of prisoners exceeds the prison capacity by 140%.
21 January. Prison officials recruited more than 2,000 new officers. They are increasing health restrictions to prevent infections and are improving the cleaning of facilities.
Saut de page
19 January. Caledon prison planned to ease the strict restrictions put in place five days earlier. There were no new cases in that period.
19 January. On 3 January, officials announced that all inmates would be vaccinated during the second phase of the vaccine roll-out. The first phase applied to the country’s health care personnel. The country’s constitution and the International Bill of Rights guarantee that all inmates have access to health care.
7 January. Officials announced that inmates would be among the first South Africans to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Appeals and recommendations
21 January. The POPCRU union called for the resignation of the Correctional Service National Commissioner over surges in the number of COVID-19 cases in prison.
Officials denied the resurgence of positive cases among staff at the East London prison. The prison has been understaffed since the pandemic started.
14 January. The Sapohr organisation denounced the country’s prison conditions. It reported significant overcrowding as well as high infection and death rates among inmates and prison staff. Prison officials disagreed with this account. It acknowledged there were 58 deaths among inmates since January 2020. The 130 prison staff members who died were said to have been infected outside the prison.
Identified cases
5 February. The authorities [counted](https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news/violence-and-covid-19-take-toll-on-sas-prisoners-d3ccc664-2715 -4e82-903d-f9cc8a8b9bda) a total of 62 COVID-19 related deaths among prisoners.
21 January. Officials reported 9,892 cases of COVID-19 inside the prison, 6,394 of whom were officers and 3,498 were inmates](https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/caledon-prison-may-have-restrictions-eased-amid-covid-19-recovery-reports-901d2ff3-3b91-46c2-a873-6395e19f6d80). Officials reported 192 deaths from COVID-19, 133 among prison staff and 59 among inmates.
19 January. Prison officials recorded 934 active cases inside the country’s prisons, affecting mostly prison staff. Officers who test positive must continue to work due to staff shortages.
9 January. Helderstroom prison announced that 152 inmates and eight prison officers tested positive for COVID-19. The authorities tightened restrictions inside the prison.
Some of the COVID-19 positive inmates were transferred to Pollsmoor facility for treatment.
The country reported 58 deaths among inmates and 124 among prison staff. Prison officials reported 9,428 positive cases in prison since the pandemic started.
8 January. Authorities imposed a lockdown in Helderstroom prison, in the Western Cape, due to a rise in infections. Prison officials announced 87 new infections among inmates. Confirmed cases were placed in self-isolation and suspected cases were quarantined.
Prisons in the Gauteng region have a total of 592 inmates and 1,102 staff who are infected. The Western Cape region reported 798 inmates and 1,178 staff as positive since the virus appeared in prison. The Eastern Cape has 1,215 inmates and 1,127 staff infected with the virus. Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North-West, announced that 585 staff and 180 inmates were positive.
6 January. Countrywide the count is now 3,106 positive inmates and 60 deaths.
