Department of Correctional Services on Status of Children & Educational Programmes in Pollsmoor, Grootvlei & Westville

Meeting report

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON STATUS OF YOUTH, CHILDREN & DISABLED
20 September 2002
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES ON STATUS OF CHILDREN AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN POLLSMOOR, GROOTVLEI AND WESTVILLE

Chairperson: Ms H I Bogopane (ANC)

Documents handed out
Preamble to Presentation by Department of Correctional Services (Appendix 1)
Department of Correctional Services briefing on status of children in prison
Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons presentation
UN Special Rapporteur on sale of children, child prostitution & child pornography (Appendix 2)

SUMMARY
Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons officials presented a comprehensive overview of the status of children in prisons in South Africa, with particular focus on sexual abuse of children by over 18 year old prisoners. An overview was presented on the status of children in prison and major obstacles and challenges facing the Department in its endeavours to protect rights of children in prisons. Judicial Inspectorate of prisons officials presented on their role, function and responsibilities towards children in prisons.

MINUTES
The Chairperson stated the Special Assignment programme highlighted the plight of children in prisons. Cases of sexual abuse and violence against children in prisons were unacceptably high and needed swift intervention.

Briefing by Department of Correctional Services on status of youth, children and disabled
Ms Jabu Sishuba (DCS) informed members of the committee that DCS was to review its recruitment strategy given the new challenges of protecting fundamental freedoms and rights of children in prison. It was pointed out that most conflict situations in prisons were due to overcrowding. She was concerned at the disturbing trends of corruption in prisons. The staff was subsumed in the culture of prisoners and this resulted in corruption of prison officials.

However she indicated that DCS had already initiated steps to eradicate corruption in prisons. The Minister of Correctional Services had visited prisons around the country in an effort to boost staff morale. The Jali Commission was also an effort by government to deal with corruption in prisons. She stated that plans were afoot to initiate the DSC's own internal investigation of corruption. It was hoped that prison officials guilty of corruption would be suspended pending outcome of an investigation.

Ms Sishuba (DCS) reiterated a generally held view within her department that no children belonged in prison. She indicated that social factors such as family fragmentation, increased unemployment, poverty were forcing youth into a life of crime. It was asserted that DCS intended to open prisons to communities. She argued that communities could strengthen the rehabilitation programs initiated by the DCS. She said that children in prisons required protection and safety from us as civil society and government. The DCS was faced with enormous challenges in their effort to build human rights sensitive corrections system. The DCS had introduced unit management system to ensure the safety of children in prisons. According to this system prisons were divided into units, which provided better management.

In the field of education there were currently programmes running to build capacity within prison staff. However such training was frustrated by fact that current staff were trained prior to 1994 and some had not embraced the values of our democracy. Nonetheless links were kept with department of education to ensure relevance with current teaching and learning trends. A correctional service was a very specialised field and practitioners were not well trained. She mentioned that some prisoners were already trained as ABET practitioners in some prisons. She stated that it was not easy to retain the staff, as remuneration was not market related. She admitted that some of problems compounded the question of rights of children in prisons. For instance in Westville prison two children under 14 years were awaiting trial with a murder charge. An ideal rehabilitation programme for them would be to consider their family background and involve their parents.

She stated that a total of 178 000 children were in prisons nation-wide as at July 2000.Out of this number, 132 were infants or babies whose mothers were serving prison terms. She said that it was desirable to separate children from adult prisoners. Therefore DCS had since developed a model in terms of which prisoners were profiled. These profiles of prisoners helped the DCS in separating hardened criminals from others, especially children and disabled. She stated that partnerships were forged with the SABC for programs aimed at creating awareness about rights of children in prisons. Furthermore, the DCS had teamed up with the department of labour where prisoners were equipped with necessary skills.

The primary focus of DCS was restorative justice as rehabilitation played a crucial role. The DCS wanted to treat prisoners with dignity and house them in humane conditions. Victims of sexual abuse and violence were being encouraged to report such abuse. She mentioned that prisoners were being educated on issues of human rights. This was aimed at healing the relations between the offender and the victim, including the community. The restorative justice centres were being created with a view to provide training to prisoners. Plans were under way to establish mother-child units. She added that such centres would cater for the emotional, social and intellectual needs of these children.

On youth policy, she pointed out that emphasis was placed on training and education of youth in prisons. However she mentioned overcrowding as an impediment to an effective youth policy She added that half of the staff focused on punitive aspects and not rehabilitation aspect of corrections system. This factor compounded the issue of protection of children's rights in prisons.

On health policy, she remarked that sex education was at the forefront of their policy. The DCS had also formulated an HIV/AIDS policy for prisoners. All these efforts were taken in consultation with department of health. Voluntary counselling was encouraged amongst prisoners with HIV and AIDS.

Discussion
The chair remarked that she was looking forward to the promulgation of Child Justice Act. She challenged the DCS to explain why there was still no separation of children from adult prisoners as required by Correctional Services Act.

Ms Sishuba acknowledged that separation was not implemented as envisaged by the Act. Factors such as overcrowding and complex methods of separation determined to what extent separation could take place. This created confusion and needed to be dealt with carefully in best interest of the children. The Act provided that children under 18 years should be separated from those over the age of 18. It further required that the sentenced prisoners be separated from the awaiting trail prisoners. There were prisons where no separation had occurred because of overcrowding.

Mr Victor Bloem ANC) requested the DCS to furnish him with names of prisons not complying with the provisions of the Correctional Services Act. Ms Sishuba promised to meet with him after the meeting and provide the names of prisons concerned.

The chair asked the age at which an infant was required to be with the mother in prison. Was there no alternative for such children based on the Child Care Act? She mentioned that the child belonged to both parents in accordance with the Child Care Act.

Ms Sishuba expressed regret that unfortunately mothers of these infants did not want to be separated from their children. Mothers were concerned that there was no proper support system outside prison and in contrast held the view that children were much safer with them in prison. She stated that children were kept in prison until the age of 2 and then taken to place of safety. She mentioned that in one case, a mother of two months old baby pleaded with DCS not to be separated with the baby, as there was no support system outside. Both were now being kept in mother-child units. She argued that any method of separation would have to take into account the emotional, socio-economic, intellectual needs of children.

Briefing on status of children, youth and disabled by Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIP)
Mr Gideon Morris (JIP) stated that JIP was an independent body created by the Correctional Services Act. Its primary function was to monitor the treatment of prisoners and promotion of human rights in our prisons. Monitoring was based on information gathered by inspecting judge and independent prison monitors (IPV). The IPV's were lay persons who were from nearby communities. Their function was to deal with prisoners' complaints. The IPV interviewed and recorded the complaints of prisoners. Thereafter these complaints were forwarded to prison head, who had to take appropriate action. He argued that it was possible to separate child prisoners from the adult ones. He stated that his submission was supported by the separation of young patients from old ones in our hospitals. The disabled prisoners were still kept among the ordinary prisoners while few were kept separately in special hospitals.

Presentation by Ms D Luthuli
Westville Prison
She told the committee that the population of juveniles and children in Westille and Grootvlei prisons far outweighed the capacity of these prisons. She stated that there was 165% overcrowding in both prisons. There was noticeable presence of the IPV's in Westville prison. She mentioned that conditions of overcrowding persisted despite reduction of children in prison. This was largely influenced by shortage of beds, which mainly affected awaiting trial prisoners. There were education and training programs, which included welding, carpentry, woodwork, gardening, etc. However such programs were reserved for sentenced prisoners.

Grootvlei Prison
She stated that Groovlei prison was deliberately not inspected, as it was not designed to accommodate youth. There was a 215 % overcrowding and IPV's were appointed since November 2001. Overcrowding was a factor but fluctuated with time. There were no education programs for juveniles and only adult prisoners received training and education.

Pollsmoor Prison
The committee heard that there were only two reformatory schools in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. There were also attempts to separate juveniles from the adult prisoners. Children were being taught different skills like gardening, woodwork and trained in market related occupations.

The appointment of IPV's would improve the treatment of children in prisons. The Criminal Procedure Act provided for plea-bargaining, which would improve conditions of overcrowding in our prison. The JIP stated that they looked forward to the promulgation of Child Justice Act.

Mr J M Petit - Special Rapporteur to UN
Mr Petit commended the South African government for its good efforts to foster culture of human rights in prisons. He spoke positively about our government efforts to alleviate the plight of children, youth and disabled in prison. Mr Petit alluded that his country was far behind in developing an efficient prison and social policy on children. Many times the issues of child labour, child prostitution and child pornography were politicised. He urged all present to speak sincerely and governments to be self-critical of their conduct with regard to children's rights. Mr Petit concluded his remarks with a question. He wanted to know why was there a high level of sexual violence against children in South Africa.

The chair replied that an increase in child rape could be attributed to cultural factors in South Africa's diverse society. She mentioned that incest was considered a taboo and as such child's rights were not recognised by communities in South Africa. For instance, it is acceptable for an African child to fetch water, clean the house and fetch wood in the bush. However, these kinds of culturally entrenched practices could be in conflict with convention on eradication of child labour.

Ms Bogopane stated that the answer was in the awareness campaigns to empower women and children. He asserted that women's rights were linked to children's rights. The effectiveness of these campaigns and reporting of incidents of sexual abuse of children had led to many convictions and imprisonment. There was also a need for reporting these issues with a measure of sensitivity by journalists in South Africa.

Meeting was adjourned.

Appendix 1
PREAMBLE TO PRESENTATION BY DCS TO JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF YOUTH, CHILDREN AND DISABLED

1. INTRODUCTION
Let us begin by stating some bold facts that are of concern to the Department of Correctional Services and should be to all South Africans. There has been a discernible increase in youth involvement in crime over the past couple of years, and particularly in the involvement of young men. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the involvement of youth in violent crime and in organised crime. A range of social factors can be identified as contributing factors - the impact of the rapid transition to democracy and the freer environment on parental, school and institutional authority; the relative absence of recreational activities for youth in many of the communities of origin of youth offenders; the levels of unemployment amongst youth; the legacy of the violence that South African youth have experienced as young children; amongst others. Of serious concern is the long-term impact of the increase on youth involvement in crime, particularly serious crime. These offenders will return from the prison and community corrections environment into society and it is our challenge as Correctional Services to ensure that they return as good citizens of South Africa, able to take up their responsibilities as adults. husbands and wives and parents. We are very aware of the inadequacies of the prison and community correctional service to prevent recidivism amongst our youth. We also remain convinced that correction of offending behaviour in youth cannot be successful if the responsibility is borne by DCS alone. Crime prevention, in which corrections has a central part, is a joint Government-community responsibility. This informs the manner in which the Department approaches our central task of rehabilitation or correction of offending behaviour.

The purpose of the correctional system is to contribute to maintaining and protecting a just, peaceful and safe society by
A) Enforcing sentences of the courts in a manner prescribed by this Act; b) Detaining all prisoner's in safe custody whilst ensuring their human dignity; andc) Promoting the social responsibility and human development of all prisoners and persons subject to community corrections. (Correctional Services Act section 2)

Correctional Services is faced with a number of strategic challenges that militate against the Department being able to successfully deliver on this legal mandate. As a preface to
addressing the issues that the Committee has requested a briefing on, we would like to highlight the context within which our work with juveniles, children in prison, and disabled offenders takes place.
We can confidently say that the policy framework for correctional services is in place. There has over the past five years, been a major and ongoing policy development process. The challenge, and where we are currently falling short is on implementation of and delivery on policy.

2. MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
As we are sure the Parliamentary Committee is aware, DCS has four major obstacles that we have to overcome in order to be proud to call ourselves a correctional service.

2.1.HUMAN RESOURCE RECRUITMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
The first is the need to retrain members of the Department to understand their function as providing this service to offenders. It entails members recognizing the dignity of the people in our care, and being able to separate the human being from the offending behaviour. It also entails getting members who are trained as disciplinarians to really understand Batho Pele and to apply it even in their relations with offenders. Obviously the negative impact of this prevailing disciplinarian attitude to offenders is of particular concern when it comes to youth offenders who are still in the process of social and human development. DCS is currently developing a new organisational culture of caring and professionalism, while at the same time ensuring that there is a retraining in the harder skills and policy direction that members need to be able to take the department to \where we want to be. The DCS Management has agreed on a serious review of the human resource strategy of the Department to pay special attention to recruitment, training. promotion, remuneration, disciplinary procedures and the code of conduct for members.

2.2 CORRUPTION AND CRIME WITHIN PRISONS AND THE DEPARTMENT
Over and above an inappropriate organisational culture inherited from the previous Prisons Department, in the post 1994 period, elements within the department have subsumed the negative subculture of prisoners - gaining of appreciation by doing wrong things. This is a reflection of the second major obstacle to a successful correctional system in South Africa, namely the corruption and involvement in crime by both prisoners and members within the prisons. International experience illustrates that corruption and crime by members is inherent to any correctional system - logically so if one takes into account that one has grouped together people whose skills entail dishonesty, manipulation and corruption of others. Part of the tight discipline that any correctional system requires is to counter the tendency towards corruption that is inherent in accommodating criminals in one institution, by removing the opportunity for corruption as far as possible. The National Management Board has recently reasserted that the current extent of corruption in our Department is a reflection of inadequate management within the department, particularly at provincial and prison levels and inadequate disciplinary processes which are crippling proper management. The anti-corruption programme of action will thus include as a key component, the responsibility to address management weaknesses parallel to the investigation of and taking of disciplinary action against corruption.
DCS approach to the combating of corruption has been to request the President to establish the Jail Commission. and to be fully committed to support the Jail Commission in terms of their terms of reference to inquire into 8 Management Areas/Prisons in relation to corruption and mal-administration. DCS Senior Management has undertaken to use the information generated by the Commission to improve the quality of management within the Department.
The Department Senior Management is of the view that it will take a minimum of five years to deliver 10 Parliament a department that one can say is clean and well managed. To assist in achieving this the Commissioner has also been interacting with the Special Investigations Unit. to ensure that immediate action is taken to investigate and prosecute allegations of corruption and fraud, while through the same process a sustainable investigative and disciplinary capacity is built in the Department.

2.3. OVERCROWDING
The third major obstacle is the extent of overcrowding in our prisons. As at the end of the last financial year, the figures were as follows:
RSA 109,106 55,500 123,498 178,998 164.06%
Capacity Awaiting trial Sentenced Total prisoners Percentage
prisoners prisoners overcrowding
Overcrowding places enormous stress on DCS custodial staff as their numbers are inadequate to the size of the task. The post establishment has been designed on the basis of the capacity of the prisons, not the current level of over crowding. This leads to low morale of staff, negligence. and at times resistance to their tasks. This also militates against the re-training that is necessary to ensure that humane treatment and rehabilitation can be placed at the center of prison management. Overcrowding also militates against DCS statutory responsibility of humane detention doe to cramped living space, little outdoor exercise, inadequate recreational facilities.
Successful implementation of the core business of the department namely correction/rehabilitation is hampered due to both overcrowding's negative impact on custodial staff and the demotivating effect on offenders through cramped living space, little outdoor exercise, more tension and more violence. Overcrowding also has negative health impacts such as increases in TB and other communicable diseases, poor sanitation and hygiene, unsatisfactory food, and inadequate health care.
Overcrowding also renders offenders less safe, given the increased tension among staff and offenders. Resulting in increased levels of violence in prison, including sexual violence, which in torn counters successful rehabilitation. There is also a negative impact on offender and prison security, as the monitoring of offenders and hence the prevention of escapes is far more difficult. DCS has identified a risk in relation to the risk to prison infrastructure by overcrowding, with concern about the impact on prison facilities.
Overcrowding is however a less acute of a problem in relation to the Youth Correctional/Development Centres, which have been specifically designed to accommodate sentenced youth offenders. In situations in which youth are accommodated in a section within a prison, and in particular awaiting trial youth, obviously overcrowding renders juvenile prisoners more vulnerable to the negative aspects of prisoner culture and to members' corruption. Major problems of overcrowding impacting on youth awaiting trial prisoners remain in Pollsmoor, St Albans, Westville, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Management Areas that are close to capital cities tend to have unacceptable levels of overcrowding that impacts negatively on youth.
Of note is that the APOPS prison contracts prevent any transfer of the risks associated with overcrowding to the APOPS prisons. This result in an APOPS environment that is more amenable to humane detention, secure incarceration and rehabilitation, and when compared with DCS prisons. Reflects negatively on the image of DCS.

2.4. GROUNDING THE DEPARTMENT IN A CORRECTIONAL PHILOSOPHY
The fourth major challenge that the Department faces is to ensure that the central task of correction of offending behaviour, or rehabilitation, becomes the driving philosophy of the Department, becomes an integral part of the mindset of all members of the Department and shapes the business processes. Systems structure and budget of the Department. To this end, we are engaged with continuously' enriching the Mvelephanda Strategic Plan and realigning business processes, systems and structures with delivery on rehabilitation. The Commissioner is involved in ongoing work to strengthen and rearrange Area Managements in provinces in line with ensuring that quality personnel are deployed at provincial and area levels. Ongoing visits by the Commissioner to Management Areas with the Provincial Management continue to enable DCS leadership to interact both with staff of DCS and prisoners.

The Department is currently workshopping the core business of rehabilitation in order to allow the concept of our core business and the functions that the Department has to perform to drive the Gearing DCS for Rehabilitation Project. This has involved developing a Rehabilitation Concept document. A document on the Culture of Corrections, and a document to revamp the functioning of the basic Work Units within the Department. Branches and Provinces are using these documents in making their submissions to the Gearing Project. We have also adopted an aggressive information campaign around the slogan "Every DCS member is a rehabilitator" to be carried out through brochures, posters internally and through public media, through briefings of stakeholders at provincial and national levels The key challenge will be to ensure that the concept of unit management, multi-disciplinary teams committed to offender management for rehabilitation/correction, which is the method we have adopted of running prisons, serves as the basis for the realigning of the Department. The outcome of the Gearing Project will be presented to the Minister for his consideration and submission to Cabinet. This will further enrich the Mvelephanda Strategic Document. The challenge will be to develop a programme of implementation so as to ensure that within the NITEF or within a five-year period, we can deliver a Department of Correctional Services which is
- Well managed,
- Staffed by professional and appropriately trained members/rehabilitators,
- Cleaned of corruption, fraud and crime, and has an investigative capacity and a strong disciplinary culture.
- Has business processes, systems and structures that are appropriate to unit management, and delivery of corrections/rehabilitation to offenders both in prisons and in community corrections.

2.5. CONCLUSION
We have spent some time on this preamble in order for the Committee to understand both the objective constraints that the Department of Correctional Services faces, and the vision of where we are going to.
We have brought a team from the operation to meet with you today in order for an interactive session in which we engage with your questions rather than spend too much time in presentation. We have provided a hand out of statistics on youth, children and disabled in prison. We will make a brief presentation on the topic and then be ready to engage in interaction on your questions.

Appendix 2
Introduction to the mandate of Mr Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

On 20 November 1989, the United Nations General Assembly in New York adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document "recognised that in all countries in the world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need special consideration." In 2000, over ten years after the its adoption, almost every country in the world has signed and agreed to be bound by the provisions of this international treaty.

By 1990, international awareness about commercial sexual exploitation and the sale of children had grown to such a level that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights created the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The mandate is to investigate the sale and sexual exploitation of children around the world and to submit reports of the findings to the UN Commission on Human Rights, making recommendations necessary for the protection of the rights of these children. These recommendations are targeted primarily at governments, other United Nations bodies and non-governmental organisations.

There now exist over 30 thematic mandates of the Commission on Human Rights. In the framework of each of these mandates of Special Rapporteurs/Representatives/Experts, each deals with an important problems connected to human rights violations (for example, violence against women, torture, extra-judicial executions, racism, and observance of various rights and freedoms). There are a also several Special Rapporteurs who investigate a whole range of human rights issues within one specific country. These independent experts are unpaid, and generally hold positions in law, academia, or other related fields.

Mr. Juan Miguel Petit (Uruguay), was appointed to this position in July 2001.

Visit to South Africa. 16-26 September 2002
The Special Rapporteur is visiting South Africa at the invitation of the Government. His visit will include meetings with governmental, non-governmental, UN and other organizations, and relevant individuals. In particular, he with focus upon the issues of domestic abuse and rape of children, trafficking, prostitution and the related issue of HIV/AIDS. In the course of his visit, he will have meetings in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The report of his findings and recommendations will be presented to the Commission on Human Rights at its 59th session in March 2003. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of South Africa for extending this invitation to him.