Judges at the Kosovo war crimes tribunal have ordered that prison visitors for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci are vetted and visits are monitored after prosecutors raised concerns about witness-tampering, a decision published on Monday showed. In their ruling the judges said that without extra measures to monitor ordinary visitors and conversations, there was a substantial risk that "Mister Thaci may engage in prohibited conduct which could endanger the security of witnesses and/or the integrity of proceedings". Prosecutors had asked for the court to keep Thaci - and two other former top leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on trial alongside him - separate from other prisoners and suspend all their communications, outside of privileged talks with their lawyers and some family members.
Correctional services officials and members of the public have been “caught in the act” smuggling contraband into prisons, with drugs and cellphones being particularly rife at the St Albans Correctional Centre in Nelson Mandela Bay,
Serving a sentence means entering a parallel world, becoming a social outcast. A non-profit is trying to bring humanity back to the prison. Volunteers listen to prisoners, who become full-fledged people again. We went to meet these visitors, and hear their views.