Prisoners In South Africa Research Articles

The Cycle of Violence and Abuse in Women Who Kill an Intimate Male Partner: A Biographical Profile

Numerous women experience domestic violence and abuse on a daily basis, and some retaliate and kill their intimate male partners. Our aims in this study were (1) to explore the biographical profile of women who have killed their intimate male partners, and (2) to compare women who used a third party in the murders with those women who did not. Biographical questionnaires were completed by 60 women incarcerated in five prisons in South Africa. The results suggest that various biographical factors may influence a woman's decision to murder her partner. This study adds to the body of knowledge on intimate partner violence in the South African context, and it is hoped that it will lead to early identification programmes of women at risk of killing their intimate male partners.

Challenges to providing a support group for HIV-positive prisoners in South Africa

ABSTRACT In prison populations around the world, the prevalence of HIV is often higher than that of the general population. The prison population is at high risk for HIV infection, particularly through the sharing of contaminated needles and high-risk sexual activity. Counselling is regarded as a key element in the prevention and treatment of HIV infection. Support groups provide essential supportive counselling for HIV-positive individuals struggling to cope. This paper looks at the challenges to providing a support group for HIV-positive prisoners. The author's experience of attempting to provide a support group highlights two key challenges: organisational issues which lead to disruptions for the group; and challenges to ensuring confidentiality, a core ethical principle in HIV counselling.

Censorship and the reading practices of political prisoners in South Africa, 1960-1990

Political prisoners undermined censorship in apartheid jails. The jail diaries, authorised biographies, autobiographies, prison memoirs, interviews and prison letters of more than fifty political prisoners and two prison censors describe the reading practices of South African political prisoners. Political prisoners generated original thoughts from books that ended up in prison libraries and in their possession. They continued the political struggle and reconstructed news and life experiences from reading materials denied to them by prison authorities. Political prisoners regulated their own reading spaces. Innovation Vol. 35 2007 pp. 24-55

The Effectiveness of a Peer-Led HIV/AIDS and STI Health Education Intervention for Prison Inmates in South Africa

This article reports on the effectiveness of the first systematically developed health education intervention for the reduction of risky sexual behavior among soon-to-be-released prisoners in South Africa. Data from three out of four prisons are eligible for data analysis including 263 inmates. Using a nested experimental design, short-term evaluation while inmates were still in prison demonstrate that experimental groups showed higher knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and had a more positive intention to reduce risky behavior than the control group in two out of three prisons. Long-term assessment 3 to 6 months after release from prison indicates that experimental groups were more positive about sexual communication, self-efficacy, and intention. Groups educated by an HIV-negative educator perform marginally better than those in groups with an HIV-positive peer educator. It is argued that peer-led health education programs may be effective in reducing risky behavior amongst soon-to-be-released inmates.

The ‘5 star’ prison hotel? The right of access to ARV treatment for HIV positive prisoners in South Africa

South Africa has been hailed as possessing one of the most progressive and visionary Constitutions in the world. It recognizes the right of everyone to have access to health care services. It also recognizes, in detail, various rights of accused, arrested and detained people, including the right to adequate medical treatment. However, despite the constitutionally entrenched rights, we (as civil society) are painfully aware that this does not magically transform the social conditions of the poor and marginalized amongst us. In fact, we have learnt that it is not only food, shelter and healthcare that cost money, but rights also. For without access to legal services in order to enforce one’s rights, they often remain not much more than paper ideals. This is recently demonstrated in the case of EN and Others v Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others , more commonly called the Westville Correctional Centre case (WCC case). This article will examine this case, and the implications of the right to adequate medical treatment for prisoners in South Africa, by addressing the factual background to the litigation, the legal and policy framework, the key issues that arose and the legal remedy.

The historical development of prisons in South Africa: A penological perspective

President Nelson Mandela commented during his time of incarceration1 “Prison not only robs you of your freedom, it attempts to take away your identity. It is by definition a purely authoritarian state that tolerates no independence and individuality. As a freedom fighter and as a man, one must fight against the prison’s attempt to rob one of these qualities.” Historically, the characteristic feature of the development of South African prisons was its resemblance to the mine compound. Such compounds housed mine workers, of whom many were convicts supplied by the prison system. Even by 2006 these remnants of the past are distinct in the large communal cells crammed with rows of beds in which prisoners are housed. It is currently assumed that institutional confinement has always been employed as the usual method of dealing with offenders throughout history. This has been assumed, almost universally, because presently offenders are confined within penal institutions, such as, prisons, reformatories, reform schools and jails. However, the use of institutions for the extended confinement of offenders, as the prevailing method of punishment, is a relatively contemporary innovation and was primarily a product of American influences. The use of the prison as an institution for the detention of offenders for the period of their sentence is approximately two hundred and fifty years old. The suffering and anguish of living conditions to which inmates are subjected in overflowing prisons cannot be calculated in figures and graphs. The consequences of housing too many people in too little space means that inmates are doubled-bunked in small cells designed for one, or forced to sleep on mattresses in unheated prison gyms, temporary housing, hallways, or basements. In this article a review of the origin and development of prisons in South Africa will be given. A historical look into the Department of Correctional Services in South Africa and the change in direction of the penal system during the past century will also be reviewed. An assessment of the overcrowding of penitentiaries over the decades together with the problems experienced will be discussed.

The Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership system (APOPS) for prisons in South Africa

The global shift from public to private financing of infrastructure development has led to a search for alternative and innovative procurement techniques. A public–private partnership is one innovative procurement strategy for infrastructure development. When the process described in this paper was initially developed, public-private partnerships for infrastructure delivery was a new concept in South Africa. The Department of Public Works (DPW), South Africa, developed the framework for Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership System (APOPS). As with other private finance initiatives, APOPS aimed to reduce governments’ capital requirements, yet maintain the clear accountability of state ownership and embrace the capital efficiency savings and creativity of private enterprise. This paper provides a case study of the implementation of the APOPS process. Specifically, the paper examines the project management procedures and the difficulties faced in procuring infrastructure using public–private partnership in a developing country.

Privatizing Prisons from the United States to South Africa

The author examines the privatization of prisons in South Africa and the United States.

Fighting crime while promoting human rights in the police, the court and the prisons in South Africa

That South Africa is beset by crime is beyond question. It continues to be a considerable impediment to the development of a human rights culture. It often undermines good governance and democratic principles and has a very dire impact on the economy. At the same time the criminal justice system continues to be in crisis, it appears to many to be far from competent. Relatively few suspected criminals appear before the courts and many are acquitted. This sends the message that crime does pay. The norm of few and failed prosecutions also perpetuates a lack of respect among citizens for the rule of law and human rights. This further undermines the legitimacy of the courts. While laws are being enacted that appeal to populist "get tough" notions they do little to curb crime itself. These measures fail to address the real causes of crime and do little to stop crime. They are aimed primarily at appeasing public sentiment, which they hardly achieve, at the expense of human rights and freedoms. This article examines examples of the tensions that exist in South Africa in the areas of crime, human rights and policing, crime, human rights and the courts and crime, human rights and prisons. It makes recommendations of what could be done to try and resolve some of these difficulties.

Prisoner Release and Conflict Resolution: International Lessons for Northern Ireland

This article is drawn from a major piece of international comparative research on the release and reintegration of politically motivated prisoners in South Africa, Israel and Palestine, Italy, Spain, the Irish Republic, and Northern Ireland. The research was designed to inform the ongoing debate in Northern Ireland regarding the release of prisoners in light of the IRA and Loyalist cease-fires of 1994 and the renewal of the IRA cease-fire in 1997. Using the international experience, the author seeks to draw out the key themes that are relevant to the prisoner issue in Northern Ireland.

Inside: Poems from prison and an interview

Jeremy Cronin, then a 27-year-old lecturer in the philosophy and politics department of the University of Cape Town, was arrested in July 1976 and sentenced the following September to seven years' imprisonment (Index 1/1977). He was charged under the Terrorism Act and the Internal Security Act for having carried out African National Congress (ANC) underground work for several years. In sentencing him the judge said: ‘So far as you are concerned, Cronin, I get the impression from the political statement you made from the dock yesterday that you are quite unrepentant. I do not suppose that the prison sentence I am going to give you is going to reform you.’ Cronin was released a few months early in May 1983, bringing with him a large number of poems written in prison: some had been jotted down and escaped the prison authorities, others were memorised and written and worked on after his release. A collection of these, entitled Inside, was published in February 1984 by Ravan Press in Johannesburg (distributed in Britain by Third World Publishers). On the publication of Inside Stephen Gray, Professor of Literature at the University of Witwatersrand, asked Jeremy Cronin about conditions for writing poetry in prison in South Africa, about opportunities for his poetry reaching an audience, and what he sees as the main challenge for white poets in South Africa. We print his interview below, together with a selection of poems from Inside.

Political Prisoners in South Africa

Political Prisoners in South Africa

Massacre; Solitary Confinement: For the Political Prisoners in South Africa

Massacre; Solitary Confinement: For the Political Prisoners in South Africa

Body-buffer zone and violence: a cross-cultural study.

Summary The purpose of the present study was to compare the body-buffer zones of 15 violent and 15 nonviolent male colored prisoners in South Africa, both between and within each group, and to make cross-cultural comparisons between the present and previous data. The mean age of the Ss in the violent group was 33.0 years, and 32.4 years in the nonviolent group. The body-buffer zone was measured by means of a behavioral task, and the results supported previous findings in that the violent Ss had significantly larger mean zones than the violent ones (p < .01). However, the zones for the present Ss were considerably larger than those of Ss used in previous studies, a fact that may be ascribed to cultural differences.