The Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Mr Justice Nathan Erasmus, says that "the true facts must be put on the table" to counter public perceptions that former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni is receiving preferential treatment from prisons authorities.

Yengeni's parole and correctional service conditions were released by the Department of Correctional Services last month after pressure from the Cape Argus and the DA.

Both had asked for details of Yengeni's parole conditions under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, but it was only after threats of court action were made that the information was released.

Yesterday, a member of Parliament's second house, the National Council of Provinces, asked Judge Erasmus whether his office could help counter public perceptions that VIP prisoners were given special treatment.

Judge Erasmus said that as Yengeni was no longer in prison, issues around his parole were not part of his office's mandate.

"It's for the department to answer what the true facts are," he said.

Yengeni, convicted of defrauding Parliament and jailed, has been accused repeatedly of failing to fulfil his parole obligations.

Referring to Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, who is serving time for fraud and corruption but is again back in hospital, the judge noted that under the legislative framework, "a prisoner is entitled to health care of a certain level and if the department can't provide it, then he is entitled to get it in an outside hospital on medical advice".

Shaik, who is serving a 15-year prison term, was admitted to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban last month.

The KwaZulu-Natal department of health said in a statement he had been admitted at the request of Discovery Health cardiologists.

Shaik has spent two months in the Durban-Westville prison infirmary, 82 days in the private St Augustine's Hospital, and a couple of weeks in the hospital section of Empangeni's Qalakabusha Prison.

In Parliament, Judge Eramus questioned the standard of health care provided for offenders.

"The Department of Correctional Services simply does not have the capacity always to (provide health care of a high standard)," he said.

"The possibility of infectious illnesses spreading through a strained system is real."

With acknowledgement to Janine Stephen and Cape Argus.