Simon is not receiving any special treatment, though, the Namibian Prison Service's Deputy Commissioner Tuhafeni Hangula said yesterday.

He is being treated like any other prison inmate with a similar security risk rating, and he is not unique when it comes to living in a single cell and having a television in his cell, Hangula said.

Hangula spoke to The Namibian in reaction to a query that the newspaper received from a source who recently visited Walvis Bay Prison, where Simon is being kept, and afterwards voiced surprise about the relatively comfortable conditions he said Simon appeared to be living in.

Simon started serving a two-year jail term on July 9, after he had lost an appeal in the High Court against being convicted of culpable homicide over his role in a head-on collision in which three Belgian visitors were killed on the road between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund on November 21 2002.

The fatal crash happened when a four-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz driven by Simon collided head-on with a rented bakkie in which a party of Belgian tourists was waiting to turn off to Langstrand.

The collision was caused by negligence on the part of Simon, two High Court Judges ruled in the judgement in which they dismissed Simon's appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Simon is being kept in a single cell at Walvis Bay Prison, and he has a television set in his cell, Hangula confirmed yesterday.

That is not unusual, though, he added.

Each prisoner has a right to apply to the officer in charge of the prison where he or she is held, to ask that he or she should be kept in a single cell, Hangula said.

Various reasons can be given for such a request, he said.

These can include a prisoner's wish to be in a more quiet environment for study purposes, because of concerns for an inmate's safety - such as in the case of former Police officers who are serving jail terms - or, as in Simon's case, his wish to be able to exercise while he serves his prison term, Hangula said.

He said in a single cell Simon is able to have exercise weights with him, for example.

Weights would not have been allowed if he had been kept in a communal cell, because in such a setting the weights might end up being used as weapons by some of the inmates, according to Hangula.

He said the Walvis Bay Prison does not have a gymnasium where the former middleweight world champion boxer would otherwise have been able to exercise.

Simon is being kept in a section that can accommodate 15 inmates in single cells, Hangula said.

Twelve prisoners are at this stage held in that section, and eight of them have a television set in their cells, he added.

Having been classified as a "medium security risk inmate", Simon and other prisoners in the same risk category are allowed to have a television set brought to the prison for their use, Hangula said.

Prisoners in communal cells also have access to television sets, he added.

"So, it's not really a preferential treatment," Hangula said.

On a claim that Simon has received food from outside the prison - something that other prisoners are not allowed - Hangula said relatives of Simon had made an attempt to deliver some fried chicken takeaways to him during one of their visits.

They were however prevented from making the delivery, and a second attempt to make a delivery "under false pretences" was also detected and stopped, he said.

It is at this stage very difficult to determine on what date Simon, now aged 34, can expect to be released from prison, Hangula said.

The law provides for a prisoner's early release on parole for good conduct, but that is normally considered after the prisoner has served half of his or her sentence, he indicated.

In Simon's case, though, it is still too early to say if and when he will become eligible for parole, Hangula said.

"But it's not something automatic," he stated.

"It's not something that comes on a golden plate.

You have to work for it."

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