Some Implications of Apartheid Legacies in South African Correctional Centres

Abstract

I conducted critical research into the apparently unrelenting culture of violation in South Africa generally, and specifically in correctional centres. In defining violation, I slightly modify Fanon's definition of violence to encompass “any relation, process or condition by which an individual, organisation or group violates the physical, social and/or psychological integrity of [the self and] another person or group”. I show that the authoritarian ideology underlying apartheid left structural legacies that undermine rehabilitation and transformation to a culture of mutual respect at interpersonal and institutional levels. I do so by contrasting some extant authoritarian indicators: top-down discipline and militarism, with indicators of mutual recognition and respect to show that both safety and rehabilitation are compromised by unnecessary perpetuation of authoritarian ideology in correctional centres. Critically questioning the traditional top-down structure and substituting mutuality as crucial to rehabilitation necessarily called for the application of theoretical assumptions consistent with intersubjectivity. I use a person-in-practice method whereby I juxtapose my own voice with those of clients, academics, society (as represented in the news media) and staff in the correctional system. This method streamlines as a coherent process, and an effective means to demonstrate my thesis.