2009

Roundtable Discussion on the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa

In March 2005 the Department of Correctional Services released the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa which articulated a new 20-year vision for the correctional system. This vision articulates an antithesis of what was inherited from the previous regime. But it does raise serious questions about its attainability. Nearly five years into the implementation of the White Paper, results in respect of rehabilitation services to prisoners remain modest. The lack of budgetary alignment to the vision of the White Paper has also been remarked upon by Parliament. In many regards, conditions of detention fail to meet the minimum standards set out in the Constitution and the Correctional Services Act. This roundtable discussion focussed on a critical examination of the White Paper as a policy document and also on progress towards realising the objectives of the White Paper. Some may argue that the White Paper has made a valuable contribution by providing the Department with a new purpose and paradigm, whilst others state that meeting the minimum standards of humane detention is a pre-requisite for large scale rehabilitation services. Did the ambitious vision of the White Paper set the Department up for failure?

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku December 2009 - January 2010

The issue has newspaper reports on parole & sentencing; South Africans abroad; prison conditions; governance and corruption & security.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 33 - December 2009

This Newsletter focuses on the Improved monitoring and reporting to promote and protect the rights of prisoners under the African human rights system

Roundtable Discussion on the 2008/9 Annual Report of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services

The second, in a series of three roundtable discussion, focused on the 2008/9 Annual Report of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services. Since its establishment in 1998 the Inspectorate has made a valuable contribution to promoting and protecting prisoners’ rights and South Africa. The Inspectorate has the mandate to inspect prisons in order that the Inspecting Judge may report on the treatment of prisoners and conditions in prisons. After nearly a decade in existence, it is necessary to examine how the Inspectorate has fulfilled its mandate and how oversight over the prison can be improved in cooperation with other stakeholders, such as civil society, Parliament and the academic community. The discussion focused on the state of correctional centre and the prevention of human rights violations.

Roundtable discussion on oversight over the prison system

This roundtable discussion, hosted by CSPRI, is the first in a series of three, and included representatives from Parliament, the Judicial Inspectorate for Prisons, SAHRC, media and civil society organisations. The discussions focused on the different oversight mandates, successes achieved in exercising oversight as well as the problems faced. Strategic priorities in prison oversight were identified by the participants.

Reducing Prison Violence: Implications from the literature for South Africa

Few would argue that prisons are violent places and South Africa is no exception. The consistently high number of deaths and complaints of assaults recorded by both the DCS and the JICS over several years indicate that violence is a “normal” feature of the South African prison system. Amongst all the strategic objectives towards transformation of the prison system and the distractions, the most important objective of any correctional system is to detain prisoners under safe and humane conditions. This, very explicitly, means that individuals, when imprisoned, must not only be safe but they must also feel safe. Regrettably this is not the case and thus the need for this paper to take a closer look at violence in South Africa’s prison system. This is done by reviewing the literature on prison violence to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and also to establish whether there have been any effective measures implemented elsewhere to reduce prison violence. Based on these a number of recommendations are made to improve prison safety in South Africa.

Ex-prisoners' Views on Imprisonment and Re-Entry

In the past 15 years much research has been conducted on the prison system in South Africa focusing on governance, law reform and human rights. It is, however, of particular concern that the voices of prisoners and ex-prisoners had not been heard in the current discourse, one that has been dominated by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Parliament, service delivery organisations, academics and human rights activists. In essence, there has been a lot of talk about prisoners and ex-prisoners but there has been little listening to prisoners and ex-prisoners taking place.

A Societal Responsibility: The role of civil society organisations in prisoner support, rehabilitation and reintegration

There is a growing number of civil society organisations in South Africa working with offenders and prisoners focusing on prisoner support, rehabilitation and reintegration, reflecting in many ways the ‘societal responsibility’ that the White Paper on Corrections advocates for. These organisations provide services broadly aimed at promoting offender reintegration and reducing the chances of re-offending.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku November 2009

This issue reports on topics around corruption and governance; sentencing and parole, health issues and on reports from other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku October 2009

This month's newspaper articles focus on Prisoner Exchange and Transfer; Condition of Detention; Sentencing and Parole; Government and Corruption as well as prison related news from other parts of Africa.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku September 2009

This month's newspaper articles focus on the following topics: Governance and Corruption; Parole and Sentencing; Overcrowding; Safe Custody; Escapes; and Prison-related information in other African Countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku August 2009

Media Reports for August included within the following topics are: Conditions of Detention; Governance and Corruption; Labour Relations; Sentencing, Pardons and Parole; Escapes, Deaths and Security; and reports on prison reform in other parts of Africa.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku July 2009

This month's newspaper articles focus on the following topics: sentencing and parole; overcrowding; prison conditions; governance and corruption; and articles about prison related information in other African countries.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 32 - July 2009

This issue focuses on the Relationship between Assault and Overcrowding in South African Prisons.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 31 - June 2009

This newsletter focuses on the List of Issues recently released by the UN Committee against Torture in view of South Africa's next periodic report that is due 31 December 2009.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku June 2009

Media articles on prison related issues include the following: prisoners' rights, South Africans in foreign prisons, medical parole, sentencing, parole and pardons, unsentenced prisoners.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku May 2009

This issue captures news reports on the following topics: Sentencing and Parole; Conditions of Detention; Unsentenced Prisoners; Security and Escapes; and News reports from other countries in Africa.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 30 - May 2009

In this issue: Living below the minimum standards for prisoners - the state of Uganda's prisons.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku April 2009

Sentencing and Parole; Deaths in Custody; Election 2009; Security & Escapes; Medical Parole; as well as Media articles from other African countries.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku March 2009