Keltria
01-03-2005, 04:17 PM
Ex(cell)ent cuisine for jails
Maali-Malixole Gwatyu
Cape Town - The correctional services department announced on Friday that the kitchen services of some of the jails in the country have been contracted out for R239m.
According to Patrick Gillingham, the department's deputy chief commissioner, finance, this is the first experiment in what could possibly be an extension project.
Initially, only seven management areas will be involved in the project, which was launched in September.
The areas are Johannesburg, Pretoria, Krugersdorp, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pollsmoor Prison (Western Cape) and Modderbee Prison in Gauteng.
Gillingham said they had to take the step of contracting out as the department was finding it difficult to handle its kitchens and the "large-scale provision of healthy, diet-balanced food".
Only two meals a day, not three
"Our own research has shown that things were being done with a devil-may-care attitude.
"Prisoners were served only two meals a day instead of the legally prescribed three meals (morning, noon and evening)," he said.
According to Gillingham, sometimes on Saturdays, when there was a big soccer game on, prisoners "were given only one meal and then locked up".
He added that jail kitchens also did not comply with health and security requirements any longer.
He also said the company to which the three-year contract had been awarded had spent R30m on renovating the kitchens of the jails involved.
The company - Bosasa Group of Companies - will be responsible, among other things, for the caterer, dieticians, upkeep of the kitchens and equipment, as well as training prisoners who will help with the food.
"We will be strict and can no longer allow that the food rights of prisoners are infringed by maladministration," said Gillingham.
Quality control via cameras
He said that awaiting-trial prisoners, who were taken to the courts early in the morning, would be provided with "takeaway meals".
Closed-circuit television cameras have been installed in the kitchens and dining-halls to monitor whether "food is being dished up properly and not just cooked".
Asked why it had taken the department so long to tackle the problem, Gillingham said existing contracts had to be allowed "to run out" and that "old habits die hard" among officials.
Edited by Iaine Harper
Maali-Malixole Gwatyu
Cape Town - The correctional services department announced on Friday that the kitchen services of some of the jails in the country have been contracted out for R239m.
According to Patrick Gillingham, the department's deputy chief commissioner, finance, this is the first experiment in what could possibly be an extension project.
Initially, only seven management areas will be involved in the project, which was launched in September.
The areas are Johannesburg, Pretoria, Krugersdorp, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pollsmoor Prison (Western Cape) and Modderbee Prison in Gauteng.
Gillingham said they had to take the step of contracting out as the department was finding it difficult to handle its kitchens and the "large-scale provision of healthy, diet-balanced food".
Only two meals a day, not three
"Our own research has shown that things were being done with a devil-may-care attitude.
"Prisoners were served only two meals a day instead of the legally prescribed three meals (morning, noon and evening)," he said.
According to Gillingham, sometimes on Saturdays, when there was a big soccer game on, prisoners "were given only one meal and then locked up".
He added that jail kitchens also did not comply with health and security requirements any longer.
He also said the company to which the three-year contract had been awarded had spent R30m on renovating the kitchens of the jails involved.
The company - Bosasa Group of Companies - will be responsible, among other things, for the caterer, dieticians, upkeep of the kitchens and equipment, as well as training prisoners who will help with the food.
"We will be strict and can no longer allow that the food rights of prisoners are infringed by maladministration," said Gillingham.
Quality control via cameras
He said that awaiting-trial prisoners, who were taken to the courts early in the morning, would be provided with "takeaway meals".
Closed-circuit television cameras have been installed in the kitchens and dining-halls to monitor whether "food is being dished up properly and not just cooked".
Asked why it had taken the department so long to tackle the problem, Gillingham said existing contracts had to be allowed "to run out" and that "old habits die hard" among officials.
Edited by Iaine Harper