Cape Town – Assault cases have been opened following attacks on five warders at Pollsmoor prison over the long weekend, correctional services said on Wednesday.

Prison visits, which had been suspended following the violence, were reinstated as the situation was “back to normal,” spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said.

Four warders were assaulted when they tried to stop an inmate from assaulting another with a padlock in a communal cell in the prison’s medium B section on Sunday. A fifth warder was attacked with a broomstick in the medium A section on Monday.

The prisoner with the padlock sustained minor injuries. He was treated in the prison’s hospital and discharged on the same day. All five injured warders opened separate assault cases with police.

Western Cape correctional services commissioner, Delekile Klaas, ordered an investigation into the matter.