Wits Justice Project

The government has allocated R 25 218 129,000 for 2021/22 financial year for the Department of correctional services programs.

The majority of the budget (R14 961 070, 000) has been allocated to the to the Incarceration program which comprises of security operations, facilities, offender management and remand detention.

Juxtapose this with the R2 175 524, 000 that has been allocated for the Rehabilitation programs which comprises of: Offender development, Correctional programs and psychological, social and spiritual services.

Problems:
- Recidivism is at crisis level being estimated to be at 87%
- The majority of prisoners do not already have rehabilitation as only 3 978 inmates had access to long occupational skills programs.
- Thousands of people are still being kept in remand detention without recreation

The Children Justice Act aims to ensure that the rights of children suspected of criminal activity are upheld and that children convicted of crimes are helped to make better decisions and turn their lives around.

However, this is not the case in other countries. Which raises the questions of who is a child and the capacity of children to commit crimes.
Read it here:

Who is a child? – Wits Justice Project Extra Protections for Convicted Juveniles: U.S. and South Africa Agree – And Don’t

Inspecting Judge of Correctional Services Edwin Cameron wrote an article as to why prisoners need to be vaccinated now during phase 2 of the vaccine roll out in SA.

Read it here:

Why we need to vaccinate prisoners now Why we need to vaccinate prisoners now 25 May 2021 | By Edwin Cameron Opinion | South Africa A South African prison. Photo taken by JICS At last – at long, long last – Covid-19 vaccinations are happening. The pharmacist who gave me the flu jab described her joy and relief at being vaccinated. Ev...