<<previous  | index  |  next>>

APPENDIX I

The Department of Correctional Services' Comments to Draft Recommendations by Human Rights Watch and HRW's Response

• juveniles should never be housed in adult institutions;

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS): "We have separate prisons for juveniles, specially designed according to their specific needs. However, due to overcrowding and the fact that the Department realises the importance to incarcerate juveniles as near as possible to their families, they are also housed in special sections of adult prisons."

HRW: While it is true that, according to our observations, juveniles slept in separate sections of adult institutions, it was reported to us that they were transported to court along with adults and mingled with adults within the prison when not actually locked in their cells.

• in institutions for juveniles, housing in separate age groups should always be a rule to avoid situations in which 10-year-olds might be housed with 21-year-olds;

The Government: "This is already the policy of the Department."

HRW: While glad that this is the policy of the Department, we received reliable reports that this is not always the practice and are concerned that opportunities for abuse of younger children remain.

• all cases of alleged beatings of prisoners by guards or of collaboration by guards in the gang system should be thoroughly investigated and staff members found guilty of applying unauthorized force should be disciplined;

The Government: "Every complaint of an assault, no matter how petty, is regarded in a serious light. Prisoners are daily given the opportunity to lodge any complaints. A Departmental enquiry into any alleged assault is instituted and suitable actions are taken. Serious assaults are reported to the South African Police for investigation in order that the legal process may take its normal course."

HRW: We are aware of the existing mechanism for lodging complaints. According to repeated testimonies, however, in practice the mechanism often does not work. Many prisoners alleged that their complaints are not

taken seriously. We welcome the comment as a statement of intent.

• there should be a thorough, independent investigation of the 1991 riot in Barberton prison, the six deaths and the subsequent alleged assaults against prisoners;

The Government: "The legal process arising out of the incident at Barberton prison has already been activated and the results up to this stage can be analised and followed up by any individual, observer or any other interested party."

HRW: We know that a trial of fifteen prisoners charged with murder is coming up in February. As of this writing, we are not aware of a formal investigation of the alleged abuses against prisoners by prison staff members.

• restraints should never be applied as a disciplinary measure; when used to subdue a prisoner, they should only be applied as long as strictly necessary, and never for more than a few hours;

The Government: "We agree - this is already common practice in the prison services."

HRW: during our visits we observed at least one prisoner in disciplinary segregation with physical restraints as an additional punishment.We also received reports that they were in use as late as November 1993.

• cell space should be used evenly within each prison to avoid creating artificial overcrowding;

The Government: "We reject the submission that there is artificial overcrowding in SA prisons. The separation of prisoners with regard to sex, age, sentenced and unsentenced, legal grounds, personal safety of inmates dictates and necessitates that certain sections may be higher populated than others although a balance is being pursued at all times."

HRW: We acknowledge that some unevenness in the use of cell space is unavoidable for the reasons explained in the Government's response. But discrepancies in filling the space, as observed during visits to several prisons, were larger than needs suggested by the above reasons. We saw entirely empty cells in institutions where cells next door were vastly overcrowded, or just a few prisoners in a cell the same size as others holding up to forty people. We believe that the existing prison space could be used in a more efficient fashion.

• all cells should be equipped with basic furniture such as beds, chairs, tables and cabinets or shelves for private belongings;

The DCS: "We agree - budgetary constraints dictate that this situation cannot be obtained overnight but we have a planned schedule at hand to work towards the goal."

HRW: We welcome the Government's intent to provide basic furniture for prisoners.

• inmates should always be provided with three meals a day. Meal times should be spaced evenly during the day, to avoid excessively long periods between the last and the first meal of the day;

The DCS: "All prisoners are provided with 3 meals a day. The importance to avoid excessively long periods between the last and first meal of the day is realised, but due to a shortage of staff members this is not possible. To alleviate this problem prisoners are given their light meal to the cells in the evening so that is can be eaten later. In your report reference is made of this practice."

HRW: Shortage of staff does not justify the current practice. Efforts should be made to increase the number of staff members and to eliminate the long periods between the last and the first meals of the day.

• all prisoners should have at a minimum, an hour of daily exercise;

The DCS: "This is the policy and also stated in our orders. Where this does not happen in practice it is due to overcrowding and a shortage of staff members."

HRW: As above, efforts should be made to correct this situation either through changes in the management or by employing more staff. Shortage of staff does not justify violations of basic prison standards.

• the provision making it an infraction to discuss prison conditions during visits should be removed from prison regulations;

The DCS: "There is no provision in the prison regulations forbidding prisoners to discuss prison conditions during visits."

HRW: During our 1993 visit to one of the prisons we saw and photographed a sign in a visiting room specifically prohibiting any discussions of prison conditions (we refer to this fact in the report).

• paralegals and trainee attorneys should be allowed equal access to prisoners as fully qualified attorneys or advocates;

The DCS: "This is common practice."

HRW: Although some organizations have made individual arrangements with the Department for paralegals to have access to prisoners, access is not granted as a right, as is the case with qualified attorneys.

• efforts should be made to house prisoners as near to their area of residence as possible, and all requests for transfers should be sympathetically assessed;

The DCS: "Although the importance of family ties is realised overcrowding prohibits the Department of achieving this goal in all circumstances. However, in the planning of new prisons and the construction thereof cognisance is taken of these realities. The Department considers all representations by inmates in a sympathetic manner."

HRW: One of the most frequent complaints voiced to us by prisoners was that their requests for transfers were either ignored or resulted in reprisals.

• for prisoners whose relatives must travel in order to visit, it should be possible to combine several shorter visits into a longer one or to conduct several visits in just a few days when visiting relatives are staying in the area where the prison is located;

The DCS: "This is being practised by heads of prisons and form part of the operational order of the Department."

HRW: Rather than leaving it to the discretion of individual heads of prisons, this should be a policy of the entire South African prison system.

• prisoners of all races and both sexes should have equal access to vocational training and to the most desirable prison jobs;

The DCS: "The accessibility to training and jobs are based on security classification, ability and qualification and not on the grounds of race or sex taking into account that males and females are separated in the prison environment. As is the policy in most prisons all over the world prisoners of different sexes are separated and therefor it is not possible to give prisoners of both sexes access to the same training and prison jobs. Work normally done by women and men differ [sic] and therefor the same training facilities are not made available to them."

HRW: We are not quite sure what the Government means by stating that "work normally done by men and women differ." As we state in the report, we noticed that the vocational training to acquire well paid professions was available to men only, while women did the laundry, washing, and sewing, as well as some beauty salon training.

• vocational training of a meaningful nature should be progressively expanded, ideally to be available to all prisoners;

The DCS: "A new vocational training system was designed during 1991/92 in conjunction with various Training Boards. It is based on modular skills training and according to circumstances a prisoner completes the number of modules possible. This enables the Department to develop the labour capacity of all prisoners with long and short term sentences by means of affordable, career-orientated and market-related training programmes. This however remains an expensive way of training and all prisoners do not qualify on grounds of aptitude and qualifications.

"Furthermore there are formal skills training for those prisoners who have already reached the minimum period of their detention to be trained by Training Centres and by instructors of the Department under the scheme for unemployed persons."

HRW: We welcome the existence of the plan. During our visits in 1992 and 1993 we did not hear a single reference to this plan from prisoners, which suggests that it was not being widely implemented and known at the time. Most prisoners were not receiving training of any kind. As stated earlier, we believe that any investment in prisoners' education is money well spent that will eventually pay off to the society.

• prisoners should be encouraged to study not only on the most basic level. Efforts should be made to facilitate access to correspondence courses for all prisoners who are willing to study;

The DCS: "It is the policy of the Department and forms part of the functions of the qualified educational staff members to encourage prisoners to participate in educational programmes. They are furthermore encouraged by the Institutional committee. All prisoners do have access to correspondence course with the only prerequisite being that they must have the financial abilities to pay for their tuition. (Please also see the comment with regard to the education of prisoners.)"

HRW: By "facilitating access" we mean making it financially possible as well, in addition to simply authorizing enrollment in correspondence courses. Many prisoners expressed sadness to us at their own inability to pay for education. As stated above, we believe the money spent in this way would be a sound investment for South Africa.

• training for prison warders should place emphasis on conflict resolution and respect for prisoners' rights rather than the simple enforcement of discipline;

The DCS: "The matter of dealing with conflict as well as the methods of resolving conflict is embodied in the curricula of all Departmental training and development courses. The enforcement of discipline is but only one element in the basic training course of members."

HRW: Prison staff members in various institutions expressed their concerns to us that their training overemphasized the use of force and lacked instruction regarding conflict resolution.

• an effort should be made to integrate reforms in the prison system with reforms in the general criminal justice system, so that, for example, efforts to reduce the prison population do not result in longer sentences being imposed by magistrates;

The DCS: "The criminal justice system in South Africa is a well coordinated entity and there is no indication that longer prison terms are being imposed by courts to jeopardize efforts to reduce the growthrate of the prison population. Alternative sentencing options such as correctional supervision is extensively used by the courts. This has resulted in a slower growth rate in the prison population than otherwise would be the case if this system was not in place, or if the courts did not endorse or use this system adequately.

An interdepartmental Crime Prevention Secretariate was established between the Department of Correctional Services, Police and Justice to further the close cooperation within the Criminal Justice System."

HRW: The alternative sentencing, while a welcome approach, is still in an early stage of its application, and its impact on the overall rate of imprisonment in the country is not significant. The assertion that the prison population grew more slowly than it would have without the new sentencing options is not supported by evidence; in the past two years C that is, precisely when new sentencing options were being introduced C the country's prison population grew significantly.

• all cases of abuse of the parole system by prison staff should be fully investigated and those involved disciplined. The criteria for early release or parole should be clearly explained to prisoners, and uniformly applied across the system.

The DCS: "Agreed. Any member who oversteps his authority or abuses a parolee or inmate is disciplined. Any specific evidence will be used in this regard.

The release of a prisoner on parole is not determined by a single member and each release is dealt with by the Institutional Committee and the Parole Board. Various safeguards to protect the right of the prisoner and community are built into the system.

The placement of inmates on parole is a long standing practice and is well known to inmates as well as the various institutional committees/release boards dealing with this matter. Furthermore release policy is the product of advice rendered by the Advisory Council on Correctional Services chaired by a judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa and where no governmental bodies have an input. Information on release policy is distributed as widely as possible under prisoners, bearing in mind that new prisoners are admitted to the system all the time. In this process it is inevitable that at any given time some inmates are better informed than others. The Department however also makes use of all methods at its disposal to inform relevant parties in this regard."

HRW: We received reports of abuses of the parole system. We welcome the news that the Government is working to improve the parole system.