Prisons In South Africa
Prisons in South Africa are run by the Department of Correctional Services. According to the ministry, there are approximately 34,000 employees of the department running 240 prisons.In those prisons are nearly 156,000 inmates as of August 2013.The prisons include minimum, medium and maximum security facilities. Since 2019, the Minister of Correctional Services has been Ronald Lamola.
The Prison Reform
The prison system in South Africa was first introduced by the European settlers. Even in the pre-apartheid era, racial factors played a major role, with white prisoners living in better conditions and receiving better treatment than their black counterparts. During the apartheid era, cultural norms afforded the subjectivity of guilt to the assessment of the whites, which led to Black South Africans being adversely affected. Prisons were segregated on the basis of race during this period. In the post-apartheid era, a number of reforms were initiated, and the irrelevant role that race had played until then was removed.
Notable Former Prisoners In South Africa
During the Apartheid era, many political activists were imprisoned for campaigning against the government.These include: ANC freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela (1962-1990), Walter Sisulu, (1963-1989), Govan Mbeki (1963-1987), Raymond Mhlaba (1963-1989), Tokyo Sexwale (1977-1990) and many others. A notable recent inmate was Annanias Mathe, a serial killer, the only person to escape from the maximum security prison C Max in Pretoria.
How Many Prisons In South Africa
South Africa’s prison population has been increasing since 2016, after six years of decline. The prison population rate –286 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants– remains high but has considerably decreased since 2004, when it stood at 403 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.
Condition Of The Prisons In South Africa
High overcrowding rates undermine living conditions. Some cells house two or three times the number of inmates they are designed to hold. Detainees do not have access to proper medical attention. Only a small percentage of prisoners have access to education, work, sports or to the library.
Violence and ill-treatment are common during arrest and while in prison. Gang culture is very present in South Africa and therefore reflects behind bars. Sexual abuse is a common phenomenon and it is linked to overcrowding rates and understaffing.
South Africa has two super-maximum security prisons: C-Max, in Pretoria, and Ebongweni, in Kokstad. The second one is considered to be the biggest super-max prison in the world, with 1,440 places.
The prison system also includes two privately-run prisons: the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre is run by the American private corrections’ company GEO Group, and the Mangaung Correctional Centre is run by the British security company G4S. Allegations of torture, including electrocuting inmates, have been made against G4S prison workers in the past.
