South Africa
Africa
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Africa
The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) opened a two-day consultation in Johannesburg focusing on health in prisons and the draft SADC model law on prison oversight.
Africa
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament (MP), Betty Diale, has called for urgent action to fix broken correctional services. According to Diale, the correctional services system is exposed to overcrowding, collapsing infrastructure, rampant gangsterism and contraband smuggling.
Africa
Material conditions
Work
South Africa
Prison bakeries in South Africa are helping the correctional services department (DCS) cut costs, promote self-sufficiency and sustainability and help incarcerated people gain practical experience while they receive a daily gratuity ranging from R2 to R9.
Pre-trial detention
Foreign prisoners
Overcrowding
South Africa
Within three months, 6,571 more incarcerated people occupied prisons throughout South Africa, bringing the total population to 166,924 as of December 31, 2024.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
South Africa
People who are found unfit to stand trial or be held criminally liable for a crime due to their psychiatric state are supposed to receive specialised care in the health system. But hundreds are being kept in prisons.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Africa
Female and remand people in prison are enduring massive overcrowding at Cape Town’s Pollsmoor correctional facility, parliamentarians discovered during an oversight visit.
South Africa: seven officials from Mangaung prison suspended after murder of incarcerated person
News
Africa
Justice
Violence
Social ties
South Africa
Seven prison officials at the Mangaung Correctional Centre have been suspended following the murder of an imprisoned person. Mpho Mkhumbeni died on 12 March, following an unauthorised raid of his cell where he was pepper-sprayed and beaten the night before.
Africa
Material conditions
South Africa
The Department of Correctional Services has roped in nutrition experts to ensure that imprisoned people are fed a well-balanced meal.“These changes were carefully designed to align with dietary guidelines and ensure that the diverse dietary needs of the detained population are adequately met.”.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
The department of correctional services (DCS) says 66 million euros is required to refurbish the Johannesburg Sun City Prison.
The renovation project will address critical issues, including plumbing, electrical systems, and overcrowding, and will be phased across various sections of the prison.
Africa
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
Overcrowding, ageing and creaking infrastructure and shortage of staff were some of the problems witnessed by members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services during a visit to some Gauteng prisons this week.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
The is the harsh reality what wardens and staff told the delegation they were faced with on a daily basis, often having to man over 200 remand imprisoned people awaiting trial. There are no windows or electrical sockets, beds or mattress or lights in cells they were housed in.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
South Africa
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said it is prepared and ready for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections to be conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Wednesday as a total of 14 753 inmates have registered to vote.
South Africa: resonating stories
Testimonial
Africa
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Activities
South Africa
Five former prisoners share their experiences in South African prisons. Incarcerated for different lengths of time, at different periods and in different facilities, these diverse perspectives highlight the challenges faced by prisoners in South Africa.
South Africa: prisons in 2023
Analysis
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
South Africa
All there is to know about South African prisons in 2023. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
South Africa: eyes on the system
Interview
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Violence
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) is the oversight body responsible for supervising South Africa’s prison service. Prison Insider met with Edwin Cameron, the Inspecting Judge, and the JICS executive team to discuss prison conditions in the country.
Africa
Material conditions
Torture
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are at loggerheads over findings of an investigation into allegations of abuse of inmates of Indian descent jailed in Phoenix during the July 2021 unrest.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
South Africa
Derrick Thulani Ndlovu discusses South Africa’s justice system and prison conditions with Danielle Louw, of Ndifuna Ukwazi (‘Dare to know’), a social justice activism group based in Cape Town.