Inmate challenges visitation restrictions during jail

SO-CALLED "free visits" and an inmates annual quota of visits in prison came under the judicial spotlight in the Gauteng High Court, when an inmate at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre complained about the management's sudden restriction on his visitation rights.

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Xolani Zulu launched an urgent application in which he challenged what he deemed correctional services' unlawful and arbitrary restriction of his visitation rights.

Zulu explained that his family recently arrived at the prison to visit him and was turned away. After this incident he sought clarification from the acting head of the prison on why he was not allowed a visit.

He was told that visits previously granted under the free visit policy were being counted against his annual visit allocation. As of March 1 all free visits were discontinued, and he had exhausted his allocated visits for his annual cycle.

Zulu said he was also told that his family visits would be suspended until the new visit cycle kicked-in.