Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

The member of staff conducting the tour said that thebuilding had been declared unfit for human habitation,the imprisoned children had been moved out, andthe accommodation allocated to the staff.The researchers agreed that the rooms, shared bythree warders each, were stuffy and too small. Metalcupboards had been provided for their personneleffects. There was a large hole in the ceiling and staffwere expected to cook in the rooms they slept in. Therewere no facilities for married personnel, and staffmembers were obliged to live separately from theirfamilies whom they only see once or twice a month.As indicated earlier, staff are frequently overworked andprisons understaffed. This is asource of grievance. Insome prisons, staff report high levels of stress.At Ekuseni, staff are selected - some from theDepartment of Correctional Services and some fromoutside. At this centre (a pilot project), the regime is. very different to that at other prisons. Yet there areindications of high levels of staff dissatisfaction,evidenced by a high number of threatened resignations.There are also, reports of an attempted rape of afemale teacher and of fear amongst the staff.