Senior officer suspended in Westville prison assault incident
While Correctional Services authorities continue their investigation into suspected drug use at Westville Prison, the facility's senior corporate affairs manager has been placed on suspension.
It follows the surfacing of videos last month - showing a fight and the suspected drug use at the Durban prison.
In one clip, inmates are seen beating each other with batons handed to them by warders. The incident happened a year ago.
Another shows prisoners snorting a white substance last month.
Correctional Services spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo says the decision to suspend Dunraj Mohan was taken after authorities revisited the probe into the beating incident.
"The investigation into that had quite a number of loopholes. Upon further investigation, action needed to be taken. So a senior manager who was delegated to attend to the matter - didn't do due diligence has been suspended and we will have to follow that process," Nxumalo said.
The inmates shown in the videos have since been moved to the maximum security prison in Kokstad.
