The interdependence between state accountability and socio-economic rights in South African prisons

Abstract

This article endeavours to elucidate the interrelationship between, on one hand, the state’s constitutional duties to protect its citizenry and, on the other, the enforceability of socio-economic rights, as a combined mechanism to foster state accountability in South Africa’s prison environment. This article further claims that the consistent judicial enforcement of socio-economic claims, read with a positive interpretation of the state’s obligation to protect the rights in the Bill of Rights, aids in defining and expanding state accountability. It is argued that this broadening of state liability, read in conjunction with the concept of interdependency between rights in the Bill of Rights, allows for the interpretation that the quality of prisoners’ socio-economic rights is considerably dependent on a prison environment which is not harmful to health and well-being. The case of Dudley Lee is utilised as a direct illustration of the interconnectedness between the state’s duty to protect and the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights in promoting state accountability. This article also highlights the judiciary’s integral role in the pursuit of social justice, by maintaining an atmosphere of state accountability through positively interpreting Constitutional provisions.