Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Nelson Ramaotwana, has confirmed receiving a letter from convicted former Permanent Secretary to the President, Carter Morupisi, regarding the messy conditions in Botswana’s prisons. He said that he would engage other senior government officials, such as the Commissioner of Prisons, to conduct an investigation into the allegations.
The ministry has confirmed that Ramaotwana has indeed received the complaint and is going to investigate the issues raised therein. In a response to our enquiries, the Public Relations Officer for Prisons and Rehabilitation, Superintendent Kabo Khuduga, denied any incidents of death by poisoning inside the country’s prisons. “We have never had anyone dying in our prisons as a result of poisoning. Even in cases where the family of the deceased has chosen to conduct an independent postmortem, we have never had such incidents. We have had incidents where some of our officers were accused of smuggling things into prison, working with inmates. They were tried and found guilty, while others are still being investigated and are on suspension for such allegations,” he said.
Before going to prison last Friday, Morupisi set off a bombshell scandal, accusing prison officers, police, and even Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) agents of running a dangerous smuggling racket inside the country’s correctional facilities with the help of inmates. He further revealed that he had written a letter to the minister complaining about the situation and that the minister was doing nothing about the concern.
“There is a lot of bullying, smuggling of drugs, and other illegal substances, and all this is being perpetrated by security officers, including DIS agents, who kill, injure, and maim other inmates. I have written a letter to the minister, and it seems he is not doing anything about the problem,” Morupisi said in response to a question on whether he was going to survive the seven-year sentence imposed on him.
Meanwhile, the DIS has declined to comment on the matter, saying they will revert to us at a later stage.
