Alarm over Bonnytoun escapes

Security is to be beefed up at the Bonnytoun detention centre for youths in Kraaifontein after 17 boys, awaiting trial, escaped from the facility in one month – some scaling an electric fence to get away.

The provincial Department of Social Development has also stepped in and has hired a new manager and is reviewing the contract of the security company working at the centre.

Social Development MEC Albert Fritz confirmed that during September, 17 boys escaped from the centre in four separate incidents.

“I take these transgressions very seriously and will ensure that if there was any negligence on the part of officials, steps will be taken to address this,” said Fritz.

The facility houses 47 boys awaiting trial, and three who have been convicted. They are aged between 14 and 17 and their crimes range from theft to housebreaking and armed robbery.

The boys are from suburbs across the province.

Former centre manager Kenny Marthinus said he witnessed a boy jump the fence and being shocked. The shock did not stop the boy. Instead, he kept running, said Marthinus.

In another incident, a group of five boys broke a window before kicking out the burglar bars.

The group ran for the fence, but returned a short while later after they saw another boy getting an electric shock after touching the fence.

Marthinus said another group of boys broke the aluminium gutters, which run along the dormitories, giving them a tiny gap to squeeze through.

They then made it onto the roof and ran away.

Marthinus said a number of the older boys had been institutionalised from a young age. Some had even been to prison. It was these boys who were not afraid to challenge staff or face the consequences of running away, said Marthinus.

Fritz said that of the 17 boys who escaped, most of them returned of their own accord.

The police had picked up the rest of the boys and returned them to Bonnytoun.

Some boys escaped through the gates manned by a private security company. The security guards have no authority to capture the boys.

But Fritz said they were reviewing the terms of the security company’s contract. He believed they should shoulder some responsibility for the escapes.

He said an independent task team was sent to the centre to assess the “glaring security issues”, as well as the underlying problems that led to children running away.

The assessment included interviews with staff, management, children involved and those who opted to stay behind while their peers escaped. The report should be finalised by the end of the week, said Fritz.

In response to the escapes, Fritz appointed a new centre manager, Trevor Fourie, to “restore order”.

Fourie started at the centre last Wednesday.

On his first day, a detainee who had just come back from court pulled a knife and refused to go back into the dormitory. A staff member convinced him to hand over the knife, but Fourie said a procedural search should have uncovered the knife before he entered the facility.

At the moment he said there was a great deal of mistrust between staff and the boys.

He said several new programmes – including sport – would be introduced. He also planned to keep the boys busy by making them clean their rooms and maintaining the fields next to the facility.

A complaints register would also be started so that boys could raise any grievances.

Fourie plans to introduce a reception area, where newcomers would be assessed.

He wants them separated according to the seriousness of their crimes.

Security was also being tightened, he said.

Along with the staff training, programmes for detainees and security upgrades, Fourie plans for outside youth agencies to work with the boys.

“Here we have the freedom to reach out to the boys. They can be saved from staying in the system. There are a lot of people who can work with and help them,” said Fourie.

Fritz said he did not favour keeping these children in “places of safety” as it carried the risk of them becoming institutionalised. He is currently investigating alternative ways of dealing with children awaiting trial and diversion programmes.

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