Prison Conditions in South AfricaWhile visiting over twenty prisons as well as lockups in at least five different cities throughout South Africa, we found significant improvements had been made since the political climate began to change in 1990. Nevertheless, South Africa's prisoner-to-population ratio is among the highest in the world, and many aspects of prison life remain depressinly unchanged from the years of official apartheid. South African prisons are places of extreme violence, where assaults on prisoners by guards or fellow inmates are common and often fatal. |
Common terms and phrases
alleged allowed amendments apartheid assault authorities awaiting trial Barberton prison black prisoners Bophuthatswana Brandvlei Cape Town Ciskei classification communal cells complaints contact visits Correctional Services Act Correctional Services Regulations correctional supervision court criminal death Department of Correctional detainees detention disciplinary measure Durban ex-prisoners held in police housed Human Rights Watch hunger strike imprisonment inmates inquest institutions Internal Security Act Johannesburg Khayelitsha Kroonstad magistrate male prisoners maximum security prison medical officer Modderbee prison number of prisoners offenses overcrowding parole Pietermaritzburg police cells police custody police lockups political Pollsmoor Pollsmoor prison POPCRU prison complex prison conditions Prison Law prison population prison service prison staff prisoners complained Prisons Act prisons we visited received reforms restraint Robben Island segregation single cells solitary confinement South African prisons Standard Minimum Rules Transkei U.N. Standard Minimum Umtata untried prisoner vocational training warders white prisoners women Zyl Smit
Popular passages
Page 105 - A responsible resident official shall be in charge of each of these institutions. 51. (1) The director, his deputy, and the majority of the other personnel of the institution...
Page 106 - Women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women officers. This does not, however, preclude male members of the staff, particularly doctors and teachers, from carrying out their duties in institutions or parts of institutions set aside for women.
Page 104 - To secure the foregoing ends, personnel shall be appointed on a full-time basis as professional prison officers and have civil service status with security of tenure subject only to good conduct, efficiency and physical fitness. Salaries shall be adequate to attract and retain suitable men and women; employment benefits and conditions of service shall be favourable in view of the exacting nature of the work. 47. (1) The personnel shall possess an adequate standard of education and intelligence. (2)...
Page 34 - ... (b) On medical grounds by direction of the medical officer; (c) By order of the director, if other methods of control fail, in order to prevent a prisoner from injuring himself or others or from damaging property; in such instances the director shall at once consult the medical officer and report to the higher administrative authority.
Page 93 - ... record, the legal reason for their detention and the necessities of their treatment. Thus, (a) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separate institutions; in an institution which receives both men and women the whole of the premises allocated to women shall be entirely separate...
Page 100 - On medical grounds by direction of the medical officer; (c) By order of the director, if other methods of control fail, in order to prevent a prisoner from injuring himself or others or from damaging property; in such instances the director shall at once consult the medical officer and report to the higher administrative authority. 34. The patterns and manner of use of instruments of restraint shall be decided by the central prison administration. Such instruments must not be applied for any longer...
Page 113 - ... the institution as may promote the best interests of his family and his own social rehabilitation. 81. (1) Services and agencies, governmental or otherwise, which assist released prisoners to re-establish themselves in society shall ensure, so far as is possible and necessary, that released prisoners be provided with appropriate documents and identification papers, have suitable homes and work to go to, are suitably and adequately clothed having regard to the climate and season, and have sufficient...
Page 98 - The hygiene and cleanliness of the institution and the prisoners; (c) The sanitation, heating, lighting and ventilation of the institution; (d) The suitability and cleanliness of the prisoners...
Page 94 - In all places where prisoners are required to live or work, (a) The windows shall be large enough to enable the prisoners to read or work by natural light, and shall be so constructed that they can allow the entrance of fresh air whether or not there is artificial ventilation; (b) Artificial light shall be provided sufficient for the prisoners to read or work without injury to eyesight.
Page 115 - An untried prisoner shall be allowed to procure at his own expense or at the expense of a third party such books, newspapers, writing materials and other means of occupation as are compatible with the interests of the administration of justice and the security and good order of the institution.