South African Press Association (Johannesburg) - May 28, 2002

However, he was also praised for the "good job he is doing as inspecting judge".

Last week, while briefing the committee on his inspectorate's 2001/02 annual report, Fagan said about 6000 of the 10000 prisoners released monthly from South African jails were HIV-positive.

The figures were apparently based on "research" into HIV/Aids (at Durban Westville Prison by an NGO).

He also said the number of "natural" prison deaths -- as opposed to those due to violence -- were rapidly increasing, and appeared to be caused mostly by HIV/Aids.

This has been widely reported in the media, while the Correctional Services Department has been quick to reject the statistics on the "basis of their unverifiability".

On Tuesday, Correctional Services health director Mary Magoro told the committee "the department wishes to distance itself from the information presented to the portfolio committee".

"The belief that HIV infection in prisons is at 60 percent is not based on any scientific study, and is confusing to the country.

"As to the mini-study conducted in Durban Westville Prison with 274 prisoners (two percent of the total 11711 inmates) the sample is not representative of South African prisons.

"Care should be taken in extrapolating from this sample to all South African prisons," she said.

Committee chairman Ntshikiwane Mashimbye read out a letter, received from Fagan, to members.

In it Fagan said, among other things, that his figure of 6000 was "a guestimate, which was not intended to be taken as a scientific fact" and that "my guestimate of 6000 is based on assumptions which cannot be proved in all cases, such as the cause of death when a post-mortem report is not available".

Gert Oosthuizen of the African National Congress said it was unacceptable that "a learned judge, no matter in what capacity, comes to a parliamentary committee and presents as fact that which he knows to be thumbsuck".

In view of this, "I question the entire contents of the (inspectorate's) annual report", he said.

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Sybil Seaton said it was unfortunate that Fagan "chose to emphasise something he does not really have the competence to do".

"He definitely led us to believe it was a factual situation... he definitely said it was 60 percent."

However, Seaton added that Fagan had contributed to many positive changes in the department, and cautioned against overreaction.

Dennis Bloem of the ANC went so far as to call for the "resignation of this judge", who first said "HIV is very rife in our prisons, (and then) turns around and says it's thumbsuck".

Mashimbye said Fagan was doing a "good job in terms of his mandate" as inspecting judge. "We are not going to call for his resignation. I'm not even entertaining that idea."

Fagan had simply been "overzealous about things he should not have been", he said.

Correctional Services national commissioner Linda Mti said the NGO's "research report" was a confidential draft report, with much of its content being seriously questioned by the department.

He rejected Fagan's figures, and also questioned his claim that 10000 prisoners were released each month, as this could even do away with the overcrowding problem.

There had been an "unfortunate misjudgement" on Fagan's part to talk about the NGO's report -- which he should not even have done in the first place -- and thus he had not been quoted out of context in the media, as he claimed.

"The judge found himself vulnerable to an unscrupulous NGO with a particular agenda (to obtain more funding). Let us forgive him," Mti said.

In a statement last week, the department said there had never been a survey conducted on the prevalence of HIV/Aids in South African prisons.

"Statistics we have are drawn from voluntary testing of offenders who are ill... and therefore have very limited scientific value. Their representivity is highly suspect."

Official government surveys put the prevalence of HIV/Aids among the general population at 24,5 percent.

This figure among prisoners -- based on voluntary testing -- came to what the department described as an "unrealistically low" three percent.

It warned that generalisations without a proper statistic foundation could create wrong perceptions, and stigmatise the entire prison population.
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