“But precisely because he is the Commissioner, the investigation must be carried out from the outside.

“In fact, the Commissioner could never know about everything that is taking place in the three prisons.

“He has to depend on his seniors to report to him and not all of them may tell the whole truth.

“For instance, he may not be told about a clique that controls certain aspects of the prison.

“One member of the clique is a reputed marijuana smoker.

“Another one has no family life so he is always toting away things.

“A third one is lazy and a drunk; he makes junior officers do all his projects.

“Some of the others are theory specialists.

“The minister must pay a surprise visit to the prison and only in that way he will get a better picture of the reality of prison life.

“But a probe will uncover all sorts of things that will shock him and the nation.

“A lot of revamping will have to take place.”