The truth about prison privileges - an inmate and former warden speak out
A TikTok video filmed by a Cape Town prisoner is going viral. It shows the man boasting about living the good life behind bars.
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A prison inmate and a former prison warder called Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit to give an insight into the prevalence of cell phones in correctional services facilities.
Listen below
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Minutes after the new Correctional Services Minister committed to rooting out 'bad apples' within the service on Thursday, two listeners to 'Good Morning Cape Town' called in to share their perspectives.
Dr Pieter Groenewald had joined Lester Kiewit to respond to a viral video doing the rounds which shows an inmate boasting on TikTok about the good life he is living behind bars.
Bornface Banks, who uses the account BonybanksKayz on TikTok, has seemingly recorded numerous videos inside Goodwood Correctional Centre.
"I want to know, how did it happen that a prisoner had a cellphone with him?" asked Groenewald, adding that one of his priorities as Minister is introducing a zero-tolerance policy regarding corruption.
Chris Malgas is a former prison warden. The second, unidentified man who called into the show is serving time behind bars.
Both men have intimate knowledge of the prison system but from different perspectives.
"A lot of us guys here, we've got phones, but we use it just to communicate with our family... the public phones don't work... For the most part, we try to make good use of it and not mock the victims of our crimes."
- Prison inmate
"Even the officials would tell you (if you say you don't have a phone), they say go to your section, someone will give you a phone. A lot of them do turn a blind eye and a lot of them, sadly, do make a business out of it."
- Prison inmate
Malgas explains how privileges work in prison.
"The privileges are set rules that have been implemented over years... offenders qualify over the period of time."
- Chris Malgas, Former prison warder
Despite Banks' boasts in his viral video, prison life is not a walk in the park.
"There's no soft life in prison. There's no luxury life in prison."
- Chris Malgas, Former prison warder
"Once we lock and the doors are double locked, what happens in those rooms, is horrendous."
- Chris Malgas, Former prison warder
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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.