WAKE UP IN YOUR OWN BED

Oct 04, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Three convicts were on the way to prison. They were each allowed to take one item with them to help them occupy their time while incarcerated. On the bus, one turned to another and said, “So, what did you bring?”

The second convict pulled out a box of paints and stated that he intended to paint anything he could.
Then he asked the first, “What did you bring?”

The first convict pulled out a deck of cards and said, “I brought cards. I can play poker, Solitaire, gin, and any number of games.”

The third convict was sitting quietly aside, grinning to himself. The other two took notice and asked, “Why are you so smug? What did you bring?” The guy pulled out a box of tampons and smiled. He said, “I brought these!”

The other two were puzzled and asked, “What on earth can you do with those?” He grinned and pointed to the box and said, “Well according to the box. I can go horseback riding, swimming, roller-skating…

It would seem, based on a report in the press yesterday, that at least one prisoner in our penitentiary was able to do a lot more than play cards or paint.

Despite being remanded to prison, this man was found by police outside of the prison walls, a most amazing development, which in any other country would have caused such uproar that there would have been immediate resignations and a commission of inquiry.

Instead of this prisoner waking up in jail, he found himself waking up in Ruimveldt. Instead of him waking up as a guest of the State, he found himself a free man. Had it not been for the alertness of the police, this whole matter may never have seen the light of day.

More worrying is that this was not someone accused of some petty crime. This was a guy before the courts on some serious offences.

The very fact that he was remanded and not placed on bail suggests that the courts felt he is someone that should not be walking the streets until his case is determined.
The big question is: how did such a thing happen?

It is truly frightening in any society when a prisoner is remanded by the courts yet, later, the police are able to pick him up on the streets.

This is serious, and it becomes more serious because it has not yet been confirmed whether what we are dealing with is a one-off situation or whether in fact this has been something that has been happening frequently.

There is only one way for us to find out. I would urge the prison authorities to launch a comprehensive audit of all those persons who were remanded to prison over the past year to see whether those persons are still in custody.

They should go through all the case dockets for one year and pick out all the cases in which persons were sentenced to jail, and they should compare this with the list of inmates they have on roll.

If there is indeed a problem, then it will be bigger than what it appears, because it would mean that the integrity of the prison system will be called into question, and this is not something that augurs well for our country.

Too often, within our courts, we hear about witnesses and accused persons not appearing for cases, thus causing the cases to be delayed. We need to be sure that the non-appearance of these persons is not because they are not where they are supposed to be.

We need to ensure a system that is foolproof, so that when someone is convicted or remanded, that person does not walk free.

I am hoping for the best. However, I have a sneaky feeling that all may not be right within our penitentiaries. I hope that I am wrong.

Better yet, I hope I wake up in my bed tomorrow. I would hate to know that tomorrow, when I wake up, I am in somebody else’s bed.

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WAKE UP IN YOUR OWN BED

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