Prison torture case 'potentially precedent-setting'

Electric shocks under running water, dog attacks, forcible restraint, beatings with batons and brutal assaults. In 2014, 20 inmates at Leeuwkop prison in Johannesburg claimed they were the victims of a surge of mass torture at the hands of prison officials and emergency security team members, notes a News24 report. Now, in a potentially precedent-setting civil case – which could mean major repercussions for the Department of Justice & Correctional Services – these inmates are seeking millions of rands in damages from the government. The case is being led by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). ‘There hasn't been a conviction for torture since the commencement of the Torture Act … so whether it be prison officials or the police, there hasn't been any conviction in terms of that Act at all since it came into effect in 2013,’ Clare Ballard, an attorney and head of the Penal Reform Programme at the LHR, reportedly told News24. ‘In terms of civil remedies, in the prison setting it is my understanding that there hasn't been a finding from a court that the Minister is liable for damages sustained as a result of torture in the prison setting. In that respect, it would be precedent-setting (if) we were to be successful,’ Ballard said. As reported previously in Legalbrief Today, court documents explained in detail how inmates were allegedly made to go through brutal psychological and physical torture for hours on end in 2014.

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