[imagesource:stocknsnap]

It seems that being in prison won’t put a damper on your budding TikTok career if you get nabbed in South Africa.

According to a recent spate of viral videos, you can apparently have a huge following as you twerk yourself into the hearts of fans –  straight from Pollsmoor. Although it’s probably not a good idea.

The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) has released a statement after videos emerged on social media that show inmates live streaming from prisons. The statement basically just notes that having a cell phone in prison is not allowed, but then again, having criminals in government is also a no-no, and yet it happens.

Ian Cameron, (of Bheki Cele’s “shut up” fame) has said that he has received numerous reports of inmates live-streaming from prisons on platforms such as TikTok. The leader of the civil rights organisation Action Society has posted some of these videos to his Twitter feed which shows inmates strolling around in Correctional Services uniforms in prison cells.

All the while there are live comments scrolling up as fans of these prisoners have their say.

According to News24, the spokesperson for JICS, Emerantia Cupido, said the possession of a cellphone by an inmate was illegal and punishable by law, but did not state whether the social media accounts used were being investigated, only that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) conducts regular checks for illegal items in prison cells.

‘The DCS conducts spot checks and searches to combat the smuggling and usage of contraband items. It is important to note that illegal access to and use of cellphones is a punishable offence.’

As with most of our infrastructure, the phone lines in prison seem to be broken most of the time, and it’s due to this inability to contact the outside world that prisoners are smuggling more and more cell phones into the cells. Using these for social media purposes is a natural consequence of being stuck in a cell all day with nothing to do but your cellmate.

Check out the videos posted by Cameron below, and the next time you want to donate to a TikTokker, make sure their Patreon doesn’t accept shivs or loose cigarettes. That’s a dead giveaway.

Receiving increasing reports of convicts doing live-streaming on TikTok etc from prison. We know things are messed up, but every day I become more aware that criminals in South Africa have more rights than law-abiding citizens. @RonaldLamola your incompetence is remarkable. pic.twitter.com/GKhEeaC4e2

— Ian Cameron (@IanCameron23) June 11, 2023

[source:capetownetc]