Outrage In SA After Zimbabwean Inmate Brags About Good Life In Prison (Video) 

A viral video of an inmate on trial, Bornface Banks, bragging about a “comfortable life” in Goodwood prison in Cape Town, prompted correctional services top brass to conduct raids on Thursday.

The video circulating on social media shows Banks, charged with kidnapping, recording himself on a phone boasting about receiving basic necessities such as breakfast, lunch and supper, as well as toiletries for free in prison.

“Hello haters, they put us in prison and you think we are suffering? No, my brother, we are doing extremely fine. Look how happy we are.

“This morning, we had breakfast, in the afternoon we had lunch, and we are about to have dinner. We are happy, and we are not even paying rent, we are not buying electricity, we don’t even cook, they give us food for free. They give us toiletries for free, and the education is free. You think we are suffering, we are not suffering,” Banks, a Zimbabwean, said in the video.

Correctional services commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale led a raid at the prison on Thursday morning.

“The issue of cellphones in prison is not new, it is a problem that we face in our daily operations. This is precisely one of the ways that contraband like cellphones are used to get them into our centres,” Thobakgale said, adding that raids were regularly done at the Cape Town prison.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Thobakgale said cellphones got into prisons via accused who go to court.

“They go to court and then come back with contraband. Other inmates swallow the contraband and keep it in their stomach. For us to pick up such we need body scanners, and we have few of those,” he said.

Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said Banks was moved to a maximum-security prison after the video went viral.

“This is something we don’t take lightly; it’s something that we have attended to. We have moved that inmate to a maximum-security centre where he’ll probably be given an education on what a correctional facility is.

“He’s been in and out of our facility and he sees no wrong in what he has done; instead, he’d want to make a mockery of our correctional services, and that’s something we cannot allow.

“Yes, we are bound by our mandate to provide basic necessities to inmates, but such cannot be viewed as a luxury people can brag about,” Nxumalo said.

Banks has a TikTok account with more than 14,000 followers. The viral video now has more than 1.5-million views on TikTok. He has posted more than 50 videos, some of them while in prison

98.7 said the department was shocked by the number of followers the TikTok account had.

“We always tell people to never encourage such behaviour. We even say to family members that when inmates ask for airtime to not respond to such requests because they would also be breaking the law.”

While Nxumalo expressed concerns about the smuggling of cellphones in prison, he acknowledged that correctional services staff also play a part.

“Our colleagues do take part in allowing the entry of cellphones; we have even suspended some of them and we will open criminal cases. Some of the mobile phones are smuggled in by contractors. Inmates who go to court and come back find ways of hiding these phones. You wouldn’t even believe where they hide them because it’s just shocking.

“It is in our standard operating procedure that routine searches must be conducted. Where are our officials when this is happening? Our investigation will look into that,” he said.

He said the department was working on a system that would stop cellphones from having connectivity in prison.

“We are closer to finalising the development of a technology that will make those mobile phones inoperable in our centres. If we are able to get approval for that solution, it would help us because if you don’t have a signal, you won’t be able to use a cellphone. Some people take it lightly, but a lot of things can go wrong when an inmate has a phone.”

Banks’ joy was cut short. Another video of him saying, “Now I’m suffering,” in which he appears to have been forced to apologise, has been circulating on social media.