2007

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku December 2007 - January 2008

Note from the Editors: Due to the festive season and general winding down of activities at the end of 2007, a December 2007 issue of CSPRI 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku was not circulated. This issue covers two months; December 2007 and January 2008. We will also welcome any feedback on this newsletter and whether or not our readers find it useful. Any suggestions on improvement are welcome; Lukas Muntingh, Julia Sloth-Nielsen & Jamil Mujuzi; This issue has media reports on: Safety and security (including a report on Load- shedding compromising prison work); Deaths in custody; Unsentenced prisoners; Governance (including an article on the Court orders prison doctor should get his job back); Corruption (including an article on Correctional Services tenders should be investigated, Democratic Alliance); Prison conditions; Health care (including an article on HIV prevalence rate is higher among prisoners).

CSPRI Newsletter No. 24 - December 2007

In this CSPRI Newsletter, Senior Researcher, Lukas Muntingh, writes on Prison Oversight in South Africa. He asks the question: Has it come of age? Reflections on the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons and the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

Prisons in South Africa's Constitutional Democracy

Prisons serve a set of complex, mutually conflicting and hard-to-achieve goals. Prisons must house people in a humane manner but simultaneously appeal to the punitive nature of prisons — order and security must be maintained while providing an effective deterrent, and appease political opinion. It is in this “inherent policy vagueness” that stakeholders (for example, politicians, bureaucrats and civil society) must find a compromise (Boin, James and Lodge, 2005: 7). Can a constitutional democracy, such as South Africa, find an acceptable compromise, and what would “acceptable” mean under the rules of a constitutional democracy? This report investigate these questions and looks at what are the constitutional requirements for prisons as well as the threats and stumbling blocks en route to meeting these.

Jali Commission Report - Summary and Comment

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Corruption, Maladministration and Violence in the Department of Correctional Services – The Jali Commission - wrote a comprehensive report that investigated various areas of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). The Jali Commission established that the DCS had various problems that made it function in a manner that left a lot to be desired. The Jali Commission made various recommendations (114+) in its 1800+ page report. The CSPRI summarised the Jali Commission report and put in a user-friendly language for most of us who do not have time to read and comprehend the whole report and also for ease of reference.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku November 2007

This issue has South African media reports on the topics: Governance and Corruption; Unsentenced prisoners; Security & Escapes; Parole & Sentencing; Conditions of Detention; and Media reports from other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku October 2007

This issue contains media reports on: parole & sentencing (including the article on permission granted to Mrs Najwa Petersen to attend her father's funeral); deaths in custody; a report on a movie shot at Pollsmoor Prison; Inmates observe Corrections Week; Prison news in other African countries.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 23 - September 2007

In this issue, Mr Jamil Mujuzi writes extensively on Medical Parole in South Africa.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku September 2007

This issue consists of media reports on: Health Care; Prisoners' Rights; Prison Population; Legislation; Rehabilitation; Escapes; Other African Countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku August 2007

This issue consists of news on: Governance and Corruption; Sentencing; Prisoners' Rights; Escapes; Parliament and Oversight; HIV/AIDS; Rehabilitation; News from other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku July 2007

This issue contains media reports on: size of the prison population; prisoners' rights; escapes; governance and corruption; parole and sentence administration; rehabilitation and reintegration; other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku June 2007

This issue contains the following: prison conditions and security; governance and corruption; sentencing; human resources; prisoners' rights and death; prison construction; rehabilitation.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 22 - June 2007

The June 2007 issue of the CSPRI Newsletter consists of: Protecting Prisoners' Rights before the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: The Role of Civil Society; SA Prisons at a glance.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku May 2007

This issue contains information on: Governance; Sentencing; Overcrowding; Rehabilitation; Parole; Prisoners' rights and treatment; Prison staff; Privatisation; News from other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku April 2007

This issue contains information on the following: Children; Prisoners' rights; Rehabilitation and Reintegration; Governance and Administration; Parole; Overcrowding; News from other African countries.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 21 - March 2007

Lukas Muntingh (senior researcher of CSPRI) provides a detailed article on the Correctional Services estimates of expenditure for the period 2007/8 to 2009/10 following the Minister of Finance's budget speech. This year, the Department of Correctional Services will be requesting from Parliament a mere 0.9% more than the previous year's request.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 20 - 2007

In this issue: In this newsletter, Robyn Ballntyne (Research Assoc. of Omega Research) writes on the mechancial restraint on prisoners and detainees and Lukas Muntingh (Senior researcher of CSPRI) writes on torture not being a crime in South Africa.