Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

offers them a 'good opportunity of being skilled in oneway or the other'.At Odi Prison, distance was a major impediment tocontact with families. Half of the prisoners said theylived more than a two hour drive from the prison. Theother half lived in the surrounding community. Despitethis, one child had not received a visit since theprevious December (the visit to the prison took placeon 15 April). Another had never been visited anddidn't know why. He supposed his family did notknow where he was. A child who lived with his sistersaid he had received food and money but-that hedid not know why she had not visited. Two of thechildren received regular visits.At this prison, the head said he would like to meetparents but that few parents were willing meet withhim. Come of the juveniles said they did not wanttheir parents to meet the head or visit the prison.The majority of the children at Thohoyandou wereover 200 km from home, a three hour drive from theprison. Most of them had not been visited by theirrelatives or friends.At Pietersburg, the girls receive no visits. Neither ofthe girls' parents knew they were in the prison. Oneof the girl's parents live some 100 kms away. She lastsaw them in court when she was sentenced. She hadno way of communicating with them, nor did she knowwhy they have not bothered to visit her. The other girlwas also far from her home in Johannesburg and hadreceived no visits. At Malmesbury, no social worker isallocated to the children, and most of the boys hadnot been visited by their families. One said his motherhad died recently.At the Pollsmoor Admission Centre, several of theboys received no visits. Two of them said their parentscould not afford to visit; two said they received visitsoccasionally. Only one said that his mother visitedhim 'very often.'Few children had visitors at St Albans. One said thathis family did not come to visit him and that he 'doesnot really mind'. The other said that his brother, withwhom he lives, did not know he had been sent toPort Elizabeth from Patensie - some 90 kms (a carride of one hour or more) away.Some of the boys at Kroonstad Prison had family jnKroonstad who visited them from time to time: once,twice or three times a month. Some had received novisits as their parents lived too far away.At Barberton, all the interviewees lived more than20 km from the prison, and some came from as far asthe Free State and KwaZulu/Natal. Only one prisonerhad received family visits. Other inmates claimedBarberton was too far from home, and they werenever visited. Some said their families did not knowthey were in the prison. The social worker said shewas attending to this problem. All had been living inthe family home prior to arrest, most of them in largefamilies with small incomes.At Rustenburg, two open family days provide forcontact visits when family can visit the children inthe cells and have an opportunity to spend timewith relatives travelling from far away/ These are inaddition to the normal visits during regular visitinghours. Despite this, the three children interviewedsaid they had never had any visits from their families.At St Albans, the visiting section is shared with theadults. At Pollsmoor, too, juveniles share the visiting