Corpses of psychiatric patients were found with head injuries and unexplained bruises. Relatives were not informed of the deaths of their loved ones. The transfers of mentally ill patients were seen as business opportunities.

Those were some of the findings of a South African government investigation published on Wednesday that determined that 94 psychiatric patients died of negligence last year after being moved by the authorities in Gauteng Province to facilities that were likened in some cases to concentration camps. The report prompted calls for criminal prosecutions.

More than 1,300 patients under state care were transferred last year from a unit of Life Healthcare Group, a private hospital group in South Africa, to 27 charitable organizations in an effort by the health department in the province to save money. Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, and Johannesburg are in Gauteng.

The investigation was opened last September after 36 patients were found dead after being moved to some of the facilities operated by the charitable organizations. The report, by Professor Malegapuru W. Makgoba, the South African health ombudsman, found that the death toll was nearly 100, however.