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REHABILITATION: Boksburg Prison inmates peep through a reinforced steel door. PHOTO: Vathiswa Ruselo

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The committee visited Johannesburg Central Prison as part of its oversight duties to thrash out issues affecting correctional services facilities in Gauteng.

Present at the frank discussions were regional representatives of the judiciary, prosecuting authority, legal fraternity, community organisations, parole boards and regional and local correctional services authorities.

Overcrowding and reported breaches of security and inmates' safety and proposed methods of dealing with the problems were top of the agenda.

Committee chairman Vincent Smith started by proposing four policies that he said were already being "considered" in Parliament.

He said the committee wanted to see cameras installed in all areas of prison facilities, jamming cell-phone signals in areas of prison facilities, finding other areas to use female prison warders instead of guarding dangerous male offenders. He urged the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to find methods of properly implementing and monitoring alternative sentencing for those guilty of minor crimes.

Smith said prisons should start looking at using inmates to maintain facilities, instead of relying on outsourcing or using the Department of Public Works.

He said jobs like fixing taps, painting and other forms of labour could both skill and lighten the financial burden on facilities.

Gauteng has 26 correctional facilities accommodating 38,979 offenders. Of these, 25,174 are sentenced offenders, while 13,805 are remanded detainees.

The facilities are designed to hold about 20,000 prisoners.

Johannesburg Prison, popularly known as Sun City, has 9,827 inmates, including 4,716 sentenced and 5,111 awaiting trial prisoners.

- moengk@sowetan.co.za

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Sat May 18 13:12:02 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 11, 2012

Skomoro99

Rather make jails hush with one meal a day n that wil lower the crime rate.This human rights thing is the rezin why crime is so high in SA,prisons shud b a very dirty n filthy place with sum bugs to make criminals think again b4 commiting crimes.Our prisons have DSTV,internet access and prisoners toyi toyi for rights WTF.
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