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South Africa

Capital city — Pretoria

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Panorama

Contact with the outside world

Visitation rights

All prisoners have the right to receive visits

yes
i
1998
/ Constitution, Section 35; Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, Section 13.

An appointment must be made in advance to obtain a visit permit.1 Visitors must provide identification.2

  1. Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, “The Moral Fiber is Nowhere to be Found: Unannounced oversight visit to Ebongweni Super-Maximum Correctional Centre”, 11-12 May 2021, p. 30. ↩

  2. Department of Correctional Services, Service Delivery Charter, pp. 7-8. ↩

People eligible to visit

family members

Prisoners may be visited by their partner or relative (Constitution, Section 35.2). If the latter is unable to visit, prisoners may be visited by another person (Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, Section 13.4).

Visitation hours are from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm every day of the week for sentenced prisoners, and 9.00 am to 2.30 pm between Monday and Thursday, excluding public holidays, for untried prisoners. All prisoners must be searched at the beginning and end of the visit.1 Visitors wait approximately an hour between registration and the beginning of the visit.2 They may be subjected to a visual or body search up to three times (arrival, start of visit, end of visit). Visits are subject to monitoring and must take place within sight and earshot of an official.

The prison administration outlines the following visiting rights based on security classifications:

  • minimum and medium A: 5 visits per month, 60 minutes per visit

  • C-Max and super max A: 3 hours total per month, 30 minutes per visit, no contact allowed

  • minimum and medium B: 4 visits per month, 45 minutes per visit

  • C-Max and super max B: 2 visits per month, 30 minutes per visit, no contact allowed

  • minimum, medium, C-Max and super max C: 2 visits per month, 30 minutes per visit, no contact allowed

All those under A or B classification can receive two visitors at a time.

Untried prisoners can receive visits lasting up to 30 minutes.2

  1. Lukas Muntingh, A Guide to the Rights of Inmates as Described in the Correctional Services Act and Regulations, 2017, pp. 106-107, 117. ↩

  2. Department of Correctional Services, Service Delivery Charter, pp. 7-8. ↩ ↩

Prisoners and visitors can meet without physical barriers

-

Prisoners classified under minimum or medium security and belonging to groups A and B can receive contact visits. Other prisoners are not allowed to have contact during visits.

Prisoners are allowed to receive visits from their children or minor relatives

yes

Conjugal visits are allowed

no

The prison administration specifies which items prisoners can receive based on their classification. Only minimum A group prisoners may receive ‘delicacies’. All food brought in must be consumed during the visit. Special arrangements regarding food may also be approved during religious holidays.1

  1. Department of Correctional Services, Service Delivery Charter, p. 8. ↩

Sentenced prisoners must be placed in the correctional centre closest to where they are to reside upon release, with regard to space, security and programmes available. The same considerations must be applied for transfers (Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, Section 43).

The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) receives a large number of complaints from prisoners about the distance separating them from their families. The prison administration affirms that it takes family contact into consideration during placement, but must juggle various factors such as security classification and overcrowding.

Children are often placed far away from their families due to the limited number of juveniles and youth centres.

Marriage ceremonies may take place in the facility.

Correspondence

Prisoners are allowed to exchange mail

yes

i
Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services

Writing material is provided. Prisoners frequently complain of long delays for receiving mail.1 It is unclear if postage stamps are provided free of charge.

  1. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Guidance, South Africa: prisoner pack, p. 16. ↩

Mail exchanged is subject to control

yes

A correctional official may block, open, read, or listen to physical or electronic communications if the prison governor considers that it may jeopardise safety or security, or possess evidence of criminal activity (Regulations to the Correctional Services Act, Regulation 8.4). The prisoner must be informed in writing of the motivations behind the decision and be given the opportunity to make representations (Regulation 8.5).

Prisoners are allowed to receive parcels

yes, under certain conditions

Prisoners can receive parcels from friends and family.1 The prison administration specifies which items prisoners can receive and keep in their possession depending on their security classification.

  1. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Guidance, South Africa: prisoner pack, p. 16. ↩

E-mail exchange is possible

no

Phone calls

Prisoners are allowed to make external phone calls

-

Sentenced prisoners have the right to 10-minute phone calls. The amount of calls per year depends on their classification:

  • group A: 24

  • group B: 6

  • minimum and medium group C: 6

  • maximum, super max and C-Max group C: 0

All groups are entitled to an additional call instead of a visit during the weekend or a public holiday.

Untried prisoners have the right to five 10-minute calls per week.1

The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) frequently receives complaints regarding access to payphones. These are often poorly maintained. In 2021/22, the JICS recorded 541 functional and 751 dysfunctional payphones among those managed by Telkom, a third party provider.2

Civil society organisations frequently report non-functioning payphones. The total time allocated for them is often considered insufficient.3 A former prisoner interviewed by Prison Insider explained, “the total time allocated In a given day can be as little as an hour for more than 100 prisoners. So only 5 to 10 prisoners actually get to make a call. Sometimes the payphone would be broken, or a prisoner wouldn’t let go of the phone”.

All calls are recorded in a register. Correctional officials are present and listen to the conversations for security purposes.4 Prepaid phone cards have to be purchased and are usually available from the prison commissary.5

  1. Lukas Muntingh, A Guide to the Rights of Inmates as Described in the Correctional Services Act and Regulations, 2017, pp. 108-109. ↩

  2. Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, Annual Report 2021 -2022, pp. 77, 84. ↩

  3. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Guidance, South Africa: prisoner pack, pp. 13, 17. ↩

  4. Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, “The Moral Fiber is Nowhere to be Found: Unannounced oversight visit to Ebongweni Super-Maximum Correctional Centre”, 11-12 May 2021, p. 31. ↩

  5. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Guidance, South Africa: prisoner pack, pp. 13, 17. ↩

Prisoners are allowed to call

family and friends

i
Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, Annual Report 2021 -2022, p. 77.

The phones are located

communal areas

The cost of phone calls is in line with market prices

yes

Phones calls are wire tapped

yes

All calls, except those in remand, are reportedly recorded.1 In practice, many centres have outdated infrastructure that is incompatible with wire-tapping.

  1. Lukas Muntingh, A Guide to the Rights of Inmates as Described in the Correctional Services Act and Regulations, 2017, p. 108. ↩

The use of cell phones is authorised

no

In practice, most prisoners have a cell phone. They may be charged for “smuggling a prohibited or unauthorised device within the correctional centre”, but officials generally confiscate the phones or proceed with disciplinary action such as removing certain rights or isolating the prisoner.1

  1. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Guidance, South Africa: prisoner pack, p. 17. ↩

Prisoners have access to video calls with external contacts

no