Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

Introduction"Every child has the right... not to be detainedexcept as a measure of last resort, in which case, inaddition to the rights a child enjoys under sections12 and 35, the child may be,detained only for theshortest appropriate period of time, and has a rightto be ... treated in a manner, and kept in conditions,that take account of the child's age." \(SA CONSTITUTION, SECTION 28)"Children in Prison in South Africa" attempts to shedlight on the often desperate situation of children inprisons in this country. In order to conduct the study,researchers visited prisons all over the country andprepared reports on the conditions they found.Certain key human rights principles and documentsprovided the framework for the report and are listedin order of relative status. They are: the Bill of Rights(Chapter 2) of the South African Constitution (1996),particularly section 28 which describes the rights ofthe child and section 35 which describes the rights ofarrested, detained and convicted persons; the UNConvention on the Rights of the Child (1989) whichwas ratified by South Africa and is also binding; andthe United Nations Rules for the Protection ofJuveniles Deprived of their Liberty (1990) whichprovides guidelines but is not binding.The information was compiled mainly through interviewswith the children. Thus,'although some of theinformation relies on individual accounts, its value isthat it presents, through the eyes of the children, theoften shocking conditions in which they are kept.The balance of the information is derived fromobservation by the researchers and interviews withstaff. Statistics were provided by the Department ofCorrectional Services.In the majority of institutions visited, the children•were bored, listless and demotivated. Often they wereterrified, although they proved extremely reluctant totalk about the violence they experience in prison,1 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996).