Bandiete are being shipped out of Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai by the truckload after a court ordered jails to drastically reduce numbers in the overcrowded tronk.
Authorities are planning to send 1000 prisoners to the Free State facilities.
This after 1400 offenders were transferred to Goodwood Prison.
Pollsmoor was designed to accommodate 1 690 offenders, but currently houses 3 263.
Yesterday, the Department of Correctional Services heard of its “biggest downfall” and its “poor handling” of inmate numbers.
This and serious understaffing was blamed for a spate of violent attacks in South African prisons in recent weeks.
Inspecting Judge Johann van der Westhuizen said during an inspection at Pollsmoor Prison: “The protection of inmates can improve if we address the issue of overcrowding and understaffing.”
The judge, who heads the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), was on a countrywide tour investigating violence in prisons.
In the latest jail incident on Monday, three inmates died after a riot broke out at the St Albans Maximum Prison in Port Elizabeth.
It is believed the bloody stabbings were gang-related.Six wardens were seriously injured.
The JICS said it questioned the ease with which these weapons enter these facilities.
“The proliferation of gang activity and often times the extreme violence by officials in retaliation is the norm,” it said.
Correctional Services has been sued by NGO Sonke Gender Justice, who said the department was not doing enough to address “inhuman conditions” at Pollsmoor.
Sonke said in some cases, up to 100 inmates share a cell built to accommodate 20 offenders. The organisation found that the prison was operating at 250 percent capacity.
Earlier this month, the Western Cape High Court ordered the DCS to come up with a plan to reduce overcrowding to 120 percent.
DCS Deputy Regional commissioner Freddie Engelbrecht acknowledges the problem of overpopulation and says the department has a “multi-action” plan to combat this and other issues at hand.
Engelbrecht said they would need time to rectify the matter, but are already taking action.
“To comply with the court order on 5 December 2016, we transferred around 1400 offenders from the Admission Centre to other facilities, including Goodwood Prison.
“We are currently planning on transferring 1000 more offenders from Pollsmoor to the Free State.”
Engelbrecht emphasised that these were “short-term solutions”, which requires the co-operation of the Justice Cluster, including police and courts. The department and JICS agree that once overcrowding is addressed, they can target the violent numbers gangs in the prison.