Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

Beds and bedding"Every juvenile should, in accordance with local ornational standards, be provided with, separate andsufficient bedding, which should be clean whenissued, kept in good order and changed oftenenough to ensure cleanliness ... The right of everyjuvenile to possess personal effects and have adequatestorage for them should be full recognised andrespected. " (UN RULES 33 & 35)Generally the beds are bunk beds, although in someprisons the children sleep on the floor, either onstretchers, foam rubber or blankets.At Leeuwkop and at Pretoria Central, the inmates sleepon single beds. At Stanger, although there are somemattresses, some of the children sleep on stretchersor blankets on the floor due to overcrowding.At the time of the Upington visit, the awaiting trialchildren were sleeping on foam mattresses in anunfloored cell. The cell had allegedly been burnt downby former (adult) inmates. At Thohoyandou, whereaccommodation for male unsentenced juveniles ischronically overcrowded, most pf the children sleepon the floor and have one blanket only.The provision of bed clothes varies widely. In somecases, children have adequate bedclothes, such asat the Westville Youth Centre where they have threeblankets and two sheets each. However, althoughthe children all said they had sufficient blankets tokeep warm, they complained that the blankets weredirty and 'were washed only about every threemonths. The unsentenced juveniles at Westville werenot, however, provided with sheets. Children at thePollsmoor Admission Centre also complained that nosheets were provided.or had been putaway in lockers. The admission cellat Leeuwkop was not equipped with beds or bedding.Generally, the washing of bed linen seems to beirregular and inadequate and, at many of the prisons,there were complaints about lice in the blankets.Ablution areas"Sanitary installations should be so located and of asufficient standard to enable every juvenile to comply,as required, with their physical needs in privacy andin a clean and decent manner", (UN RULES 34)Ablution areas are often cause for concern, even infacilities which otherwise present comparativelyreasonable conditions. At Rustenburg, there was a'terrible dispelling stench of urine' in all the toilets,a striking contrast to the 'sparkling' floors in theadjacent corridor and dormitory.Lack of privacy is frequently a problem. For example,at Johannesburg Section A, Medium B, the toilets,although in a separate area of the cell, are notscreened and are located in the opening of the cell.Often visits revealed smelly, filthy conditions. At Odi, .an overwhelming smell from the toilets pervaded thecells. When the head of the prison was asked aboutthis, he became defensive and said they had beencleaned on the morning before the visit and hadbecome smelly through constant use. At Thohoyandou,toilets for the male unsentenced juveniles 'smeltAt Odi, many of the beds had no sheets. Theinmates claimed that sheets had not been issued,but the prison authorities said they had beenremoved for washing.-At this prison there"was also ashortage of blankets which had allegedly been'ordered'. The inmates reported that the warderssometimes remove blankets as punishment.At Rustenburg, most inmates had clean sheets, bedcovers and pillows. Blankets were either on the beds