9 17 6 - Correctional Services

SA Corrections Today is the national
internal newsletter of the Department
of Correctional Services, Republic of
South Africa
Patron: Minister of Correctional
Services, Deputy Minister of
Correctional Services
Editor in Chief: Bheki Manzini
Editor: Estelle Coetzee
Layout Editor: Nathan van den Bergh
Published by the Department of
Correctional Services, Private Bag
X136, Pretoria 0001.
Tel: (012) 307 2296 Fax: (012) 323 4942
Repro and printing facilitated by the
Government Printing Works, Pretoria.
The opinions expressed in SA
Corrections Today are those of
the authors and do not necessarily
represent those of the editor or the
Department of Correctional Services.
The editor reserves the right to alter any
contribution or not to publish it.
Letters to the editor that are published
in this newsletter represent the personal
view of the writers and do not reflect the
views of the Department of Correctional
Services. The editor reserves the right
to amend or reject letters. Letters should
be sent to The Editor, SA Corrections
Today, Private Bag X136, Pretoria
0001 and must be clearly marked “For
publication in SA Corrections Today”.
It can also be e-mailed to:
estelle.coetzee@dcs.gov.za
Copyright is reserved on all material in
this publication. Permission has to be
sought in writing.
M A N A G E M E N T N E W S
From the editor...
This year will probably go down as a difficult
year for most South Africans and
for the rest of the world due to the global
recession. However, it is in such times that
one should focus on factors that are causes
for optimism. DCS members’ sport achievements
in Canada in August are a strong indication
that we can be counted on as some of
the best in the world.
If one also consider ordinary members’
compassion and selflessness on Mandela Day
and the total effect their outreach projects
have had on the poor and neglected, then it
is easy to have faith in the abilities and com-
2 SA Corrections Today
mitment of DCS officials.
Project Imbeleko, initiated by the Ministry,
has sparked a renewed interest in the care of
babies behind bars. Perhaps it is opportune to
take this initiative further to the visiting areas
in our correctional centres.
The UK’s Prison Service News recently
reported on the effectiveness of their newly
established children and family visiting
rooms. They reckoned that since a significant
number of their offenders were fathers, they
wanted to encourage safe and friendly contact
between offender fathers and their children.
And so an idea was born.
Some of their NGO partners warmed to
the idea of strengthening the parenting role
of male offenders and helped
them to establish childfriendly
rooms complete
with toys and books. It is
hoped that such parentchild
contact will aid the rehabilitation
process of their
offenders. And they might
be right.
Go to MIS training and get clever
By Molatelo Mokumo
Correctional officials are urged to attend the two day
Management Information System (MIS) introductory course to
capacitate themselves with how to access up to date offender
information.
Said Martie Van Eeden (DD Offender
Information), “Knowing how to operate
the MIS enables members to
handle offender enquiries hassle-free. If
you are a manager, the system will help
you be a better manager because you
will know the nitty-gritty of the business
of corrections, particularly offender information.”
The training sessions were prompted by
the fact that correctional officials, including
senior managers, kept on frequenting
the Information Management Directorate
to request information that is available
on every member’s computer, had they
known how to access it.
Joseph Nkambule (ASD Offender Information)
conducted the sessions with the
theme, “Information is the new currency,
save it and distribute it wisely.”
Learning how to operate the MIS programme
is fairly simple. However, it was
a bit disappointing that members did not
respond so keenly with their attendance.
Mr Nkambule also regretted the ongoing
non-compliance that leads to the MIS
link being updated late. “We are supposed
to update the link on the third of
every month with offender information
from the 238 correctional centres. However,
we cannot update the system as
and when we please because we only
load 100% accurate information. If one
centre misses the deadline, we cannot
update,” he said.
Further dates of the ongoing course will
be announced on the intranet.