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Police and Prisons Union, Popcru, says the recent mass brawl at St Albans prison outside Port Elizabeth has focused attention once more on violence in South Africa.
The union was commenting on last Friday's prison fight which left three awaiting trial prisoners dead and 67 others injured.
Three are still in hospital.
On Monday the Department of Correctional Services in the Eastern Cape said a team is being assembled to probe the battle in Medium A, while police are investigating the deaths of the prisoners.
Popcru national spokesperson, Theto Mahlakoena says they're appealing to the Department of Correctional Services "to really investigate" the incident.
She says "the St Albans incident has opened everybody's eyes to the presence of and (level) of violence prevalent in the facility which Popcru is concerned about."
Mahlakoena says another concern for the union is the large number of prisoners "versus the amount of officers who are available in the facility."
