Defense: Oscar Pistorius may face ‘gang rape’ in South Africa’s notorious prisons

PRETORIA, South Africa — First it was South Africa's justice system on trial, with courtroom cameras filming every moment of the Oscar Pistorius proceedings and beaming out a live feed to intense international scrutiny.

Now, with the double-amputee sprinter back in court to learn his sentence, South Africa's prison conditions are in the spotlight.

They are overcrowded, often violent, and are a potential factor preventing Pistorius from going to jail, having been convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of his girlfriend.

A probation officer, Annette Vergeer, who was called as a defense witness during sentencing procedures this week, warned that Pistorius would be especially vulnerable to gang rape and disease if he were sent to prison.

"I've recently done a case for rape within the prison, gang rape. How can we say that he won't be exposed to that?" Vergeer told the court. "He might be exposed to those circumstances, and without legs he will be vulnerable — a lot more vulnerable than the normal man."

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Vergeer, calling for Pistorius to be placed under house arrest for three years instead of jail time, also warned of drugs, gangs, and the transmission of AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases due to overcrowding and unhygienic conditions. South Africa's prisons lack facilities for disabled people, she added.

In response, the department of correctional services issued an angry statement refuting Vergeer's claims, noting "inaccurate serious allegations" and stating that its jails are "safe and hygienic."

Zach Modise, the acting commissioner for correctional services, was called as a state witness on Thursday. He admitted there is overcrowding in the country's prisons. But he insisted progress has been made in improving the situation.

Vergeer's statements were also challenged during cross-examination by prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who pointed out to official policies for dealing with disabled inmates.

But it is undeniable that South African prisons are dangerous places. They are a breeding ground for tuberculosis, due to the number of inmates living in close confines, in a country with a high rate of TB generally including drug-resistant strains.

Last year a man named Dudley Lee — who died in May — won a lawsuit against South Africa's correctional services department after contracting tuberculosis during his time at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town.

In addition to disease, civil society groups such as the Johannesburg-based Wits Justice Project have warned of abuse and even torture at the country's correctional facilities. They have also highlighted worrying inequalities for poor people before the law.

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Amnesty International last year noted a "long-standing pattern" of abuse allegations against inmates in South Africa's prisons, "including disturbing levels of impunity for human rights abuses."

And while official policy dictates that prisoners with disabilities be treated with dignity and their needs taken into account, the reality can be very different.

The conditions of South Africa's prisons came up during lengthy extradition hearings for a British businessman accused of having his wife murdered in Cape Town. In that case, South African authorities promised the best conditions for Shrien Dewani, who is now on trial in a Cape Town court, vowing he would be kept in single cell with hot and cold water.

If Pistorius were sent to jail it is highly unlikely that he would face the same conditions as most prisoners, and would likely be kept in a single cell.

Pistorius was found guilty last month of culpable homicide, as manslaughter is known in South Africa, for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013.

Judge Thokozile Masipa, who dismissed a charge of murder, found that Pistorius had acted "negligently" when he fired four times through a toilet cubicle door, killing Steenkamp, but accepted that he had genuinely mistaken her for an intruder.

Masipa is expected to hand down a sentence by the end of this week. There is no minimum sentence for culpable homicide, and so it could range from a suspended jail sentence and a fine, to 15 years in prison.