Pretoria - There has been a significant decline in the number of escapes, assaults and other forms of attacks at correctional services facilities since the launch of the festive season security campaign six years ago.
Dubbed Operation Vala, the campaign is aimed at heightening security at all correctional centres in South Africa, with tight measures used to curb and deter any incidents in prisons.
The campaign, which runs for 50 days, was launched after it was realised that the festive season was generally the period during which offenders were desperate to escape.
Since it was launched, incidents of escapes had declined by 90 percent from 48 in 2005/6 to five in 2010.
Speaking at the end of the 2010 festive season campaign on Monday, National Correctional Services Commissioner Tom Moyane said: "We are winning the battle against incidents of escape, assaults and unnatural deaths, although the levels of these incidents remain unacceptably high when we consider the standards we have set for ourselves of 'zero escapes, zero assaults and zero unnatural deaths' in our facilities.
"We remain also fully conscious of the fact that these are difficult issues to completely manage and stop in any correctional system anywhere in the world, which by its nature incarcerates those who do not flinch when inflicting any form of injury or pain to society," he said.
Commissioner Moyane attributed the successes of the campaign to the dedicated officials. "We wish to take our hats off to other players that contributed to the success of this campaign."
According to the department, incidents of unnatural deaths also declined significantly by 73 percent from 11 in 2005/06 to three in 2010/11 financial year.
During the campaign, department officials conducted unannounced day and night raids, which netted thousands of illegal items, including dagga, knives, cellphones and other forms of drugs.
