Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

More documents

Recommendations

Info

How the Children are Cared For8. An effort must be made to ensure that threemeals are served per day at reasonable intervals.Separation of Children from Adults andolder Youth1. There should be strict segregation according toage in prison, except where prisoners are sharingeducational and training facilities during the day.2. Prisons should be more proactive in their effortsto check ages of prisoners and to ensure thatthey are not kept with adults, nor with older youthover the age of 18.Conditions in the PrisonThe following are general problems in prisons, buthave a particularly negative impact on children.Urgent steps need to be taken to ensure they areaddressed.3. There should be higher staff ratios, especially atnight.4. The physical conditions of prisons must beupgraded.5. Overcrowding in prisons must be alleviated.6. The head of the prison, or possibly the areamanager should inspect prisons housing childrenon a regular basis to ensure that they comply withthe basic standards of hygiene. The cleanlinessof cells should be maintained in accordance withbasic standards of hygiene.7. Adequate blankets, sheets and clothing must beissued to sentenced juveniles immediately onadmission to prison. Facilities must be availablefor children to do their washing at least once aweek: this requires that children should have morethan one set of clothing. Blankets should be keptclean and in a lice-free condition.9. The children's diet should be investigated andimproved. Complaints of continual hunger suggestthat the children are insufficiently fed or receive anincorrect nutritional balance.Recreation10. There should be greater involvement of theoutside community in prisons, for examplethrough recreational programmes.11. Prisoners' recreational initiatives should be -encouraged and opportunities should be soughtto showcase their talents.12. Children must be allowed regular exercise, sport,art and music, etc. and must not be confined tojust watching television. A standard recommendedminimum for children's exercise should be set.Contact with Families13. All efforts should be made to ensure that childrenare in contact with their families and that visitstake place.Violence in Prisons14. Senior management in the prisons should becounselled about the use of violence and solitaryconfinement against misbehaving children.People who work in Prisons15.The Correctional Services Department shouldtrain staff who will be oriented towards child carework.16. An effort should be made to employ staff,especially social workers, who can communicatewith juvenile offenders in their own language.17.Social workers, trained in children's rights, shouldbe assigned to large prisons to work withRECOMMENDATIONS
sentenced and unsentenced children to facilitatereintegration and community contact.18.Staff need to be better trained, disciplined andtheir morale improved.19.Staff need to be encouraged to approach their.work in innovative ways.20.Social workers should be encouraged to respondto the requests of juveniles.21 .Social workers should be required to run groupwork programmes on a variety of topics.22.Prison staff should be obliged to motivateprisoners to attend programmes and devise newand interesting programmes'to meet the needs ofprisoners. .23.Children's rights training, including awareness ofinternational rules, should be provided for staffworking with children in prison'.24.The Department of Correctional Services shouldensure dedicated social welfare appointments inlarger prisons where children are found, to caterspecifically for their needs.Réhabilitation25.Social workers should work on a more regularbasis with the children and take steps to cater fortheir emotional requirements.26.Special rehabilitation programmes should beprovided for child sex offenders.27. Programmes focussing specifically on therehabilitation of young offenders should bedeveloped.Education and Training28.Children should be encouraged to register inschool or at least to be engaged in some form ofdaily activity.30. Adequate books and other relevant materialsshould be provided.31 .Children should receive such legal education inprison as may help them to understand their rights.Children and the Criminal Justice System32.National monitoring of the conditions under whichjuveniles are held via a Judicial Inspectorate"Should be established.33. All court records as they relate to children shouldbeurgently computerised in all the differentprovinces, so that they can be tracked as theymove through the system.34.Social welfare services should be extended to allareas where there are courts, especially thosedealing with juvenile offenders.Legal aid35.There needs to be a special focus on thereadaptation of legal aid so it is better able tocater effectively for the needs of the child inconflict with the law.36.There should be a greater onus on the judiciary toexplain the right to legal representation in a waythat enables offenders and their parents to understand their rights and take suitable decisions.Awaiting trial37.There ,should be a speedy establishment of alternativefacilities for awaiting trial children and thecontinued development of correctional.facilitiesdedicated to children-and youth, as at Brandvlei.38. Children sentenced to educational institutionssuch as reform schools should not be held inprison.39.Cases should be speedily finalised.29.Children should have a structured dailyprogramme, involving at least four hours ofeducation and participation in social educationprogrammes, organised recreation and exercise.
Page 2 and 3:
• ContentsINTRODUCTION 1ACKNOWLED
Page 4 and 5:
almost certainly because they tear
Page 6 and 7:
Figure 2 gives a breakdown of child
Page 8 and 9:
THANKS ARE DUE TO:The children and
Page 10:
.Ekuseni Youth CentreThe Ekuseni Yo
Page 13 and 14:
1• Definition of Children andJuve
Page 15 and 16:
age of 18 with their own age groups
Page 17 and 18:
Dedicated facilities for JuvenilesT
Page 19 and 20:
At the Pollsmoor Admission Centre,
Page 21 and 22:
Separation of sentenced and unsente
Page 23:
Beds and bedding"Every juvenile sho
Page 26:
At Pietersburg, the researcher was
Page 29 and 30: are virtually unoccupied for long p
Page 31 and 32: At Rustenburg, a qualified, nurse i
Page 33 and 34: At Pretoria Central, a new prison,
Page 35 and 36: offers them a 'good opportunity of
Page 37: The South African Constitution ensh
Page 40 and 41: Leeuwkop were extremely demotivated
Page 42 and 43: trial- are the responsibility of th
Page 44: Where programmes are jn placeIn som
Page 47: At Westville Youth Centre, there is
Page 50 and 51: VIOLENCE IN PRISONS
Page 52 and 53: AssaultAs part of their mission sta
Page 54 and 55: of 24, sometimes without even a tel
Page 56 and 57: "Personnel should be qualified and
Page 58 and 59: the night at 3pm. In some instituti
Page 60 and 61: the ages of 15 and 17. In an emerge
Page 62 and 63: Generally, serious problems are ref
Page 64 and 65: Alternatively, if a charge is to be
Page 66 and 67: One of the consistent patterns that
Page 68 and 69: Often children say that they are, n
Page 70 and 71: the names of their lawyers. Three o
Page 72 and 73: Bail"Every child has the right not
Page 74 and 75: Postponements and finalisation of c
Page 76 and 77: Figure 7 shows the length of senten
Page 80: Trial40. Parents or guardians shoul
show all

Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?