prison privatisation in south africa issues, challenges and ...

As part of the Criminal Justice Monitor which tracks performance and strategy in the criminal
justice system, the ISS commissioned this monograph to assist among others the policy makers
and practitioners in the Departments of Correctional Services, Public Works and Finance to
understand the pros and cons of prison privatisation and the inherent challenges of such a
strategy. Privatisation is being practised in several countries and South Africans have the
opportunity to learn from these experiences.
The aim of this monograph is to present an overview of the main issues in the privatisation
debate and draw lessons for South Africa’s privatisation process. It is not difficult to see the
benefit of privatisation in this country. As the author, KC Goyer points out, "Private prisons will
necessarily be an improvement on public prisons because it would be almost impossible to
perform any worse". Nevertheless, there are important considerations of cost and accountability
that will need to be carefully monitored by those responsible for imprisonment in South Africa.
Antoinette Louw
Head of the Crime and Justice Programme
Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The prison system in South Africa faces many challenges, several of which are associated with
a lack of available resources to meet the increasing demand for correctional services. The key
challenges identified by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are overcrowding and
funding.
The Department has turned to the private sector for assistance, and has signed contracts for
two prisons to be designed, constructed, financed and managed by a consortium of private
companies.
Internationally, private prisons have seen mixed results. Many of the incidents which take place
at private prisons are similar to those which occur at state facilities. Often the criticisms levelled
at private prisons could equally apply to state operated facilities as well.
Because of problems with comparability, it is extremely difficult to determine whether private
prisons save on costs. In South Africa, it is impossible to ascertain whether a private prison will
be cheaper than the public prison, because the standard of care offered by private prisons is
entirely unmatched in the public sector.
In the United States, private prisons in general have neither outperformed nor under performed
their public counterparts. In Australia, many of the private prisons have experienced serious
problems, but the flexibility of their contracts has enabled the government to respond
appropriately.
The South African prison privatisation programme is closely modelled after that of the United
Kingdom, which appears to have most successfully incorporated the private sector into its prison
service.
The first private prison in Africa has recently opened in Bloemfontein, and the second will open
in Louis Trichardt early next year. Although the financing arrangements have essentially tied the
South African government’s hands in terms of monitoring the operations of these prisons, the
professionalism and reforms offered by private companies appear to have far surpassed the