Barberton prisoners end hunger strike
Prisoners at the Barberton Correctional Centre have ended their four-day hunger strike following talks with prison officials.
Delays of processing parole applications and the unreasonable profiling thereof were some of main grievances raised by prisoners.
The Department of Correctional Service's Singabakho Nxumalo says 94 prisoners initially took part in the hunger strike.
Nxumalo says the strike was called off following talks with senior department officials.
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"We sent a team of two senior executives from the department who went there to assess the situation and engage with the inmates, eventually they reached a decision. The issue to us, we always believed that it was something out of the ordinary to push people to embark on a hunger strike."
The inmates also requested that the profiling for parole consideration by the National Council for Correctional Services be done in a reasonable manner.
"Their frustration was that their files were often sent back for further profiling merely because they missed certain information or was not constituted properly. They felt that more was needed to ensure that there are no delays when their profiles are processed. Which is something we have always acknowledge."