confinement

Many victims have told The Times that they suffered egregious abuse decades ago at the hands of probation staff, who they said would molest them and threaten them with solitary confinement if they told higher-ups.

In addition to the four-month prison term, Lira was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, four months of home confinement and two years of court-supervised release.

Ms Mdluli tried to allay the fears by saying the deportees were being held in solitary confinement in a secure facility.

It is the birthplace of “rehabilitative” solitary confinement and for more than a century, held some of America’s most notorious criminals.

“Everyone receives soap, nobody is locked in cells all day, no one, in retaliation, is put in solitary confinement,” she said.