Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

' • • : - . . ' . . ' • • • . . ' : ' • ' • - . • • • . - 'area with adults and allege that they get robbed of'their possessions as a result.Very often the parents of Section 29 - children didnot know which prison their children were in. A socialworker at Pretoria Local tried to help the childrencontact their families, but said it was "hard to findfamilies living in shacks". The majority of the boys hadno visits at all, despite the fact that, quite often, theparents had been present in court when the children .appeared.Researchers found generally that juveniles in prison feltseparated from their families and deprived of familysupport because of the infrequency of family visits.Interviews with social workers revealed that the mostcommon request from children is to help them get intouch with their families. Often the problem cited wasthe fact that children are imprisoned far from homeandjoarents are not able to visit them. Sometimes• families living quite close by do not visit the children.Sometimes the children say, or assume, that nobodyknows where they are.6 Section 29 of the Correctional Services Act 8 of 1959 was amended in 1996 to provide for the detention ofjuveniles in prisons or police cells, under prescribed conditions and where no alternative exists.CONTACT WITH FAMILIES