A Leeuwkop Correctional Services prisoner has allegedly been beaten to death.
He was allegedly beaten for close to an hour after he had a fight with another inmate.
Sizwe Mhlongo died on Monday morning as a result of the injuries he sustained. The deceased was serving a 25-year sentence for housebreaking and theft.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) could not comment on the allegations but said that the matter was under investigation.
An inmate, who claims to have witnessed the incident told The Star on Tuesday that correctional officials had assaulted the deceased after he had a dispute with another inmate.
“He stabbed the inmate and afterwards they took him to the office and the guards started beating him. From what I know, the members that were in the office were all beating him,” he said.
The inmate went to the office after the alleged assault and found Mhlongo lying in front of the office door still alive.
“He laid there for about two-and-a-half hours and then they decided to take him to the hospital,” he said.
The inmate added that the officials were negligent because they did not take him to the hospital immediately. The incident occurred around 8.30am on Monday and Mhlongo was taken to the hospital around 10am.
DCS spokesperson Logan Maistry, however, said that during Mhlongo’s fight with the inmate, correctional officials “had to intervene and disarm” the deceased.
“The DCS has launched an investigation following a security-related incident at Leeuwkop Medium A Correctional Centre, Gauteng, yesterday (Monday, August 3), where an inmate, sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for housebreaking and theft, died after allegedly attempting to stab a fellow offender with a self-made knife,” he said.
He added that after the fight with the other inmate, Mhlongo was taken for medical treatment but unfortunately passed on.
