South Africa
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
South Africa: faeces, fly-infested cells, lack of beds inside Pollsmoor rankles minister
The stench of faeces inside a toilet filled with waste, fly-infested and leaking cells, flooded floors, beds without mattresses, damaged infrastructure, crime and corruption is what greeted Correctional Services Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald and members of the portfolio committee on security and ju…
South Africa: JICS finds evidence of racial discrimination, human rights abuses against “Phoenix accused”
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are at loggerheads over findings of an investigation into allegations of abuse of inmates of Indian descent jailed in Phoenix during the July 2021 unrest.
South Africa: inmates complain about the excessive use of force by prison officials
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) said it has been approached by inmates, officials, and associations representing inmates, to address the alleged excessive use of force by correctional officials on inmates.South Africa: plans under way to remove babies of offenders from East London prison after Covid-19 outbreak
The correctional services department is making plans for babies of two offenders at an East London female prison to be taken to their mothers’ families after cases of Covid-19 at the correctional facility. There are 26 confirmed coronavirus cases at the East London Correctional Centre. Three are in…
South Africa: community service for offenders with short sentences to alleviate prison overcrowding
Cape Town – Offenders who have been handed sentences of less than two years will serve their time doing community service. This decision has been made by Acting High Court Judge AJ Thulare in a bid to curb overcrowding in prisons. The move has been welcomed by Department of Correctional Services re…South Africa: why we should care about inhumane prison conditions?
On the anniversary this week of Sonke Gender Justice and Lawyers for Human Rights’ Pollsmoor overcrowding court victory, we should remember why the state of our prisons matter – and consider what we should be doing to improve conditions.South Africa: justice at last for reformed prisoner whose dream new life was destroyed in a heartbeat
Thanks to an electronic monitoring device that went missing, Dineo Kgatle spent 26 months behind bars for doing nothing wrong. In a ruling that could see a precedent-setting damages claim, his arrest and incarceration have been declared unlawful.South Africa : Is Ebongweni C-Max prison living up to its promises?
Prison violence, the disruptive behaviour of some inmates, high numbers of escapes in the 1990s and a public demand to be tough on crime led the South African government to replicate the American approach of dealing with very violent and dangerous offenders: building two super-maximum security pris…