Mangaung Prison

Last updated

The Mangaung Prison (Afrikaans : Mangaung-gevangenis) is a maximum security prison in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. The prison is privately owned and managed by the company G4S as part of a consortium. [1] The South African Department of Correctional Services signed a 25-year contract with the consortium in 2000. The prison can accommodate around 3,000 prisoners. [2]

Contents

In October 2013, the department temporarily took over the prison, after G4S "lost effective control of the facility". [3] In October, a female custodian with 13 years of experience was taken hostage by prisoners. She was later saved unharmed by a special police task force. [4]

2022 escape

After staging a self-immolation in his cell on 3 May 2022, Thabo Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Center with the apparent help of the guards. [5]

Documentary

In 2019 the documentary 'Prison for profit' was published about problems and use of excessive force in the prison. Investigative journalist Ruth Hopkins has mentioned that the South African minister for correctional services S'bu Ndebele in 2013 would arrange an investigation which would be published within 30 days. The report was not yet released in 2019. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G4S Secure Solutions</span> American-British security services company

G4S Secure Solutions (USA) is an American/British-based security services company, and a subsidiary of G4S plc. It was founded as The Wackenhut Corporation in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners. In 2002, the company was acquired for $570 million by Danish corporation Group 4 Falck. In 2010, G4S Wackenhut changed its name to G4S Secure Solutions (USA) to reflect the new business model. The G4S Americas Region headquarters is in Jupiter, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serco</span> British company

Serco Group plc is a British multinational defence, health, space, justice, migration, customer services, and transport company. It is headquartered in Hook, Hart, England. The company operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and Hong Kong, and North America. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G4S</span> British multinational private security services company

G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in July 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, including the supply of security personnel, monitoring equipment, response units and secure prisoner transportation. G4S also works with governments overseas to deliver security services.

A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate, either for each prisoner in the facility, or for each place available, whether occupied or not. Such contracts may be for the operation only of a facility, or for design, construction and operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston Penitentiary</span> Former Canadian maximum security prison

Kingston Penitentiary is a former maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, between King Street West and Lake Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Prison, Corcoran</span> Prison in California

California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California. It is also known as Corcoran State Prison, CSP-C, CSP-COR, CSP-Corcoran, and Corcoran I. The facility is just north of the newer California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran.

Mount Gambier Prison is an Australian prison located in Moorak immediately south of Mount Gambier. It is managed and operated by G4S.

Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, formerly the Deer Park Metropolitan Women's Correctional Centre (MWCC) is a maximum security women's prison located at Deer Park, Victoria, Australia. Built in 1996, it was the first privately-owned prison in Victoria, but was transferred to public ownership in 2000 and is now run by Corrections Victoria. It also houses medium security and all protection prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverwater Correctional Complex</span>

The Silverwater Correctional Complex, an Australian maximum and minimum security prison complex for males and females, is located in Silverwater, 21 km (13 mi) west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The complex is operated by Corrective Services NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government Department of Communities and Justice.

Port Phillip Prison is a maximum security prison located at Truganina, Victoria, Australia. It is Victoria's largest maximum security prison, able to accommodate up to 1117 prisoners. The prison is privately operated on behalf of the Government of Victoria by G4S Australia Pty Ltd.

Moses Sithole is a South African serial killer and rapist who committed the ABC Murders, so named because they began in Atteridgeville, continued in Boksburg and finished in Cleveland, a suburb of Johannesburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cummins Unit</span> Unincorporated community in Arkansas, United States

The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Corrections prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas Delta region. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gould, and Varner, 28 miles (45 km) south of Pine Bluff, and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Little Rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Coleman</span> High-security United States federal prison in Florida

The United States Penitentiary, Coleman I and II are high-security United States federal prisons for male inmates in Florida. It is part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Coleman I was opened in 2001, and in 2004 Clark Construction completed a 555,000-square-foot (51,600 m2) additional component for USP Coleman II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GEO Group</span> American institutional facilities company

The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2021, the company managed and/or owned 86,000 beds at 106 facilities. In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues. Up until 2021 the company was designated as a real estate investment trust, at which time the board of directors elected to reclassify as a C corporation under the stated goal of reducing the company's debt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prisons in South Africa</span>

Prisons in South Africa are run by the Department of Correctional Services. The department is divided into six administrative regions, each with its own regional commissioner, and subdivided into multiple areas, each headed by an area commissioner. According to the ministry, there are approximately 34,000 employees of the department running 240 prisons. In those prisons are nearly 156,000 inmates as of August 2013. The prisons include minimum, medium, maximum and super-maximum security facilities. They may be entirely dedicated to a specific group of prisoners, such as women or children, or be divided into separate sections for each group. Since 2019, the Minister of Correctional Services has been Ronald Lamola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility</span> Prison near San Diego, California

Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility is a California state prison located in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California, near San Diego. It is a part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It is a 780-acre (320 ha) facility. It is the only state prison in San Diego County.

Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane in South Africa. It is operated by the South African Department of Correctional Services.

G4S describes itself as "the world's leading provider of security solutions" and provides security services for over 40 embassies around the world, work as stewards at football stadiums and runs over six British prisons, operates prisoner tagging schemes, assists within the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom, and provides administrative roles to the health and education sectors. The company operates as a subsidiary of an American security services provider Allied Universal since April 2021.

Thabo Bester is a South African convicted rapist and murderer who escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in South Africa after faking his death in a fire in his prison cell in May 2022. He was on the run for almost a year before being caught in Arusha, Tanzania on 8 April 2023. He was arrested along with his partner and alleged accomplice, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana. Bester had become known as the "Facebook rapist" because he used the platform to lure models with fake job opportunities. He pleaded guilty to two rapes and one murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

References

  1. Steyn, Daniel (24 August 2023). "Analysis: The troubled history of Mangaung prison". GroundUp News. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  2. "Mangaung Prison – G4S Global". Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. "South Africa takes over G4S prison after concerns". The Guardian. 9 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  4. "Mangaung-tronk weer onder G4S se beheer". August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  5. "Claims guards aided killer fake death in S. Africa jailbreak". AP NEWS. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  6. "Prison for Profit – IF Productions". Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.

29°13′55″S26°18′8″E / 29.23194°S 26.30222°E / -29.23194; 26.30222