International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 73

International Journal on Criminology
3 - Corruption
Corruption often begins with relationships between prisoners and guards
becoming “too close.” In the UK, nearly a thousand employees are suspected of being
compromised. For remuneration, they have agreed to bring mobile phones and drugs
into prison, and to facilitate the transfer of detainees from one prison to another,
according to a 2006 report.
Despite numerous reports indicating cases of corruption, no sanctions
have ever been imposed by the administrative hierarchy. “What was presented as a
handful of isolated cases of corruption is actually the emerging face of a huge iceberg
of dishonest practices. In short, [the prison authorities] find themselves accused of
institutional corruption at the national level.” 233 The administration has been forced to
recognize the existence of “a small but significant minority of unscrupulous agents” 234
but suggests that a decline in drug abuse and the number of escape attempts proves
the integrity of the majority of guards. This ignores a rate of absenteeism so high
among these very guards that the Prison Service is considering no longer paying sick
leave.
In South Africa, in addition to the many elements that demonstrate the
extent of the phenomenon, a UN team studying corruption has shown that among
the different types of malpractice in which South African prison guards engage,
trafficking is involved in 13% of investigations. 235
One of the most disturbing discoveries among those made by the Jali
Commission was how an official at Grootvlei prison was not only selling dagga and
methaqualone to detainees, but even allowing them to come to his own home to buy
them.
One prisoner told the Commission how he could earn around 450 Rand 236
per month selling methaqualone on behalf of his guards, and how he was enlisted
because he had no relatives or visitors.
However subtle and well-organized such traffic may be, it would be virtually
impossible without corruption. Those gang leaders tasked with “public relations” meet
officials of the institutions discreetly and forge agreements to further their members'
interests over those of other prisoners; this is even the specific function of the Big 5
Gang within the South African prison system. The arrangements do not only offer a
way to live together. The huge profits made by all prison gangs make bribery of prison
staff, often poorly paid, very easy.
233
Mark Leech, director of Prisons Handbook, the annual guide for the British penal system, Belga
News Agency, July 31, 2006.
234
Phil Wheatley, Director General of the Prison Service, Belga News Agency, online since July 31,
2006.
235
Painter-Morland, Mollie. Final Consolidated Report - Focused Assessment of Anti-Corruption
Capacity within the Department of Correctional Services. Pretoria, Republic of South Africa: United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004.
236
$61 in January 2010.
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