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

and a discussion of the current state of South African prisons. Chapter three defines the concept
of prison privatisation and traces its development. The major issues of the prison privatisation
debate are presented as well as a summary of the arguments both for and against prison
privatisation. Chapter four presents the experiences of the three countries which have been
most involved with prison privatisation: the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom.
Chapter five presents the development of prison privatisation in South Africa and the facts
regarding the first private prison ever to be opened in Africa. Chapter six concludes with some
recommendations for encouraging the positive development of South Africa’s new privatisation
projects.
This monograph is important because prison is an important part of criminal justice, and the
criminal justice system is a crucial part of preserving democracy in South Africa. The prison
system has an under-researched and often misunderstood role in the provision of order in any
country, and particularly in South Africa. The South African prison system is in desperate need
of reform, as it is currently struggling to cope with a booming prison population and declining
standards of care. Prison privatisation is an extremely controversial topic in every country where
it has been attempted, yet the South African government has chosen to explore its use. For
these reasons, special attention should be focused on any development in the field of
correctional services in South Africa.
CHAPTER 2
IMPRISONMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
Prison
The idea that the government has the exclusive right to mete out punishment is a development
which coincided with the rise of the nation-state. In ancient times, behaviour which was
considered to be in violation of social norms was dealt with by the immediate community and
usually took the form of restitution and compensation. These traditional justice systems were
thus more concerned with the victim and restoring the original order or harmony prior to the
offence than with vengeance or punishment.
The prison is not indigenous to Africa, but is a Western institution. The forerunner of the prison
was the workhouse, an institution which developed in line with the labour trends of the Industrial
Revolution. When the concept of imprisonment was originally developed in England, prison was
intended to accomplish much more than simply house criminals and administer to their basic
needs while serving their allotted sentences. Rather than simply warehouse criminals for a
specific time, the duty of the prison system was to transform the individuals in its care into
respectable, law-abiding citizens.1 The workhouse concept was evident in the corrections
strategy employed in these first prisons, where criminals were instilled with the virtues of good
citizenship through solitary confinement and hard labour. It was expected that the shiftless lazy
vagrant, once broken by extended isolation, would welcome the diversion of manual labour. The
desired result was a healthy appreciation for the rewards of hard work and a permanent memory
of the torment of solitary confinement, which would deter future criminal behaviour.2
Prisons were introduced in South Africa by Dutch colonists, but it was after the British
occupation that the penal policy, including incarceration, began to take shape. Historically in
South Africa, as in England, the duty of the prison administration to reform criminals was
interpreted in order to accommodate the economic needs of the age. With the abolition of
slavery in 1834, policy began to be shaped by the country’s labour demands. During the 1840s
and 50s, many public projects were constructed using prison labour.3 Inmates at the Breakwater