Question NW662 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
08 June 2020 - NW662
Selfe, Mr J to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
Whether he has found that sufficient work is provided to all sentenced offenders as provided for in section 40(1)(a) of the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998; if not, (a) why not and (b) what proportion of sentenced offenders are provided with such sufficient work?
Reply:
(a) No, not all sentenced offenders can be eligible to work, such as offenders with further charges, disabilities and sentenced children unless for the purpose of training aimed at obtaining skills for their development, offenders who were declared unfit to perform labour.
Offenders are allocated work activities by Case Management Committees (CMC) considering the offender’s security risk classification.
Sentenced offenders are therefore provided with work opportunities internally and externally within the correctional centre environment. The allocation varies from centre to centre depending on available created work opportunities. The internal allocations include:
- Office Cleaners;
- Section Cleaners;
- Care Givers;
- Tutors – Peer Educators;
- Barbers;
- Laundry;
- Kitchen Cleaners; and
- Kitchen Cooks
The external allocations include but are not limited to:
- Maintenance: Plumbers; Welders , Bricklayers, Electricians, Carpenters and Painters;
- Workshop: Textile, Steel and Wood;
- Terrain Cleaning Team;
- Agriculture: Vegetable, Dairy and Meat;
- Skills Development;
- Car Wash;
- Visit Room Cleaners; and
- Special projects – (Poverty Alleviation)
One of the major challenges is the allocation of work to a maximum offender which is based on risks posed. Such offenders are not allowed to leave the correctional centre, therefore all work opportunities are sourced or confined within the centre or a security plan must be available for such offender that needs to be taken out of the centre.
(b) As at end March 2020, 3 3971 (70.52%) offenders out of 4 8170 with work opportunities performed work against a target of 56%. It should be noted that not all centres can highly perform due to demographics, and security classification of offenders accommodated per correctional centre.
On average, 1 500 offenders work in production workshops per day, while, on average, 3 000 offenders are working in agriculture/farms per day. The department is continuosly making an effort for sentenced offenders to be provided not only with work opportunities but also by following daily activites in a form of programmes and services as outlined by Structured Day Programme (SDP) and executed through rostering
END