Question NW3529 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
17 November 2023 - NW3529
Marais, Ms P to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
Following his visit to the East London West Bank Correctional Centre on Woman’s Day, which assistance has been provided to the female inmates in the facility, who are often without sanitary pads and no educational programmes?
Reply:
The East London Female Correctional Centre has a total 297 offenders incarcerated and 55 offenders are classified as maximum.
(I) The Standard Operating Procedure (Chapter 02 of the B-Order) stipulates that sanitary towels must be issued as required. DCS ensures that sanitary products are issued as required, minimum one packet of 20 or 12 per female inmate and thereafter, when it is required/as per need.
(ii) The centre has twenty registered Adult Education and Training learners in the current academic year of 2023. Ten out of these twenty offenders are classified as maximum that is 50% of the registered learners as follows:
- AET level 1: 4
- AET level 2: 8
- AET level 3: 8
The centre has three offenders registered for Higher Education and Training as follows:
- Higher Education and Training: 03 (02 registered with Unisa and 01 registered with Boston College).
The number of female offenders in East London Female CC who participated in skills development programmes during the month of August 2023 was 13. However, this does not mean that the other female offenders did not have access to skills training or were not previously trained. Skills Training programmes can be longer or shorter than one month depending on the skills programme offered.
All female inmates, who register the need for skills development programmes as per their sentence plans and who meet the minimum entry requirements have access to skills development programmes as per available resources.
END.