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Introduction

It is indeed a special opportunity for me to present to this Honourable House the Correctional Services Budget Vote, this 9th day of the 3rd month of the year 1999. The Affairs of the state, be in law making, as in this Parliament, in law-interpretation as in the Judiciary or in law- execution as in the workings of Cabinet, will forever revolve around man and his circumstances. However the question that has for ages relentlessly pursuit in the Affairs of man and state has been: Why should man obey the state. To this question, Brian Redhead answered";

"The pragmatic - Because if I don't they will cut my head.
The theological - Because it is God's will.
The contractual - Because the state and I have made a deal.
The metaphysical - the state is the actual of the ethical idea".

The question must have been pertinent at one time or another for those who now serve as offenders in our prisons.

Our vision is to be an excellent correctional services in the interest of the community and those that are entrusted to our care, and

Our mission is to render a professional correctional service in order to contribute to community protection, stability and development.

I also wish to inform members about the following important statistics. The Department of Correctional Services is having a total of 146 000 prisoners in custody as well as 56 000 offenders on probation.

Our approved accommodation available inside our 235 prisons countrywide, is 99 294. We have approximately 31 000 staff members who look after our prison population and our annual budget is 4.5 billion rand.

Achievements

The Department of Correctional Services can look back on many achievements during 1998. For instance, the previous Correctional Services Act has recently been replaced by the new Correctional Services Act (Act 111 of 1998

The new Correctional Services Act has brought our Correctional Services legislation in line with international standards and has laid a solid foundation for the future. It is a radical departure from the discriminatory system of the past. It furthermore ensures that we are on par with our Constitution and we are indeed proud of our new legal framework.

Quote: "The French Revolution, in less than four years, changed the world. From the moment Louis XVI walked up the steps of the quillotine, no other European Monarch felt safe again; by the time France had given itself the Constitution and Legislature, it became obvious to the people from Sicily to Siberia that this was indeed the way a Government should rule" (Words of Fire, deeds of blood-Olivier Bernier).

Related to our new Act, is the new privilege system for prisoners, which was introduced late last year. We in the Department of Correctional Services have embarked on a "Back to Basics" - approach in our prisons.

This approach first of all means that prisoners should be afforded those rights and privileges, which they are legally entitled to. However, these rights and privileges should also be of such a nature, that they do not negate or undermine the ultimate aim of imprisonment as a deterrent. Prisons are to remain places where convicted criminals do not enjoy more comfort and privileges that our ordinary citizens do.

For instance late 1998 some privileges enjoyed by prisoners had to be withdrawn. The reason being that these were being abused eg. items such as guns, other dangerous weapons even handgrenades, sawblades, drugs, etc were smuggled into prisons.

With regard to our overpopulation problems, it can be mentioned that nine new prisons with a total accommodation capacity of 7000, have been opened since 1994 and another two (Kokstad and Empangeni) will soon be completed. We are slowly but surely turning the tide and we are determined to keep on adding to our achievements. However, our backlog in terms of accommodation remains a serious concern. The growth our prison population exceeds our attempts to create more prison space and we need to do something drastic about this.

Our objectives to invite private operators to become involved in prisons are also on track. We regard our anticipated partnership with the private sector as one of the most promising developments in the correctional system since 1994.

The Department of Correctional Services has always been a committed and important partner in the Criminal Justice System and in the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). We are proud of our contributions and our associations in this regard.

The establishment of the Integrated Justice System (IJS) aims to bring the different partners in the Criminal Justice System together and we are very encouraged by the positive results of this approach.

The following are practical examples of very successful projects launched through our involvement in the NCPS and IJS.

Electric fences have been erected and are still in the process of being erected at most major prison institutions. This has greatly enhanced security at prisons and drastically brought down escapes.

Secondly, the electronic monitoring of offenders who are on probation or parole is in the process of being finalised.

The electronic monitoring of offenders will ensure much better supervision of offenders undergoing community correction.

Electronic monitoring will be a further cost saver for the State, as it will alleviate the pressure on appointing more and more prison officials and also in terms of creating more and more costly prison structures. We envisaged starting the first phase of the project with approximately 10 000 offenders who have committed less serious crimes.

The next matter on which I want to make some brief comments is the Office of the Independent Inspecting Judge under the able leadership of the honourable Judge Trengove.

His office has since its inception, made considerable progress in the establishment of infrastructure as well as the appointment and training of staff and Inspectors.

The appointment of Prison Visitors to each of the 235 existing prisons countrywide is furthermore well under way. It is expected that all the relevant appointments will be finalised by the end of this year. The Judicial Inspectorate is one of Correctional Service's contributions towards establishing a firm democracy and a culture of human rights in prisons.

The National Council for Correctional Services is another statutory body, established to advise the Minister on all aspects regarding corrections.

The honourable Judge Kumleben and his team have been rendering a valuable service to the department. The Council has currently established a sub committee to look at a number of subjects, relating to corrections, with a view to advise me and the Portfolio Committee on these issues.

I am however of the opinion that the composition, expertise and experience of the Council members are of such a nature that they could make a much bigger impact in the correctional field. I intend to make much wider use of the expertise and knowledge in future.

I now wish to turn to the matter of escapes from prisons. During the period 1993 up to 1997, the Department of Correctional Services was experiencing serious problems with escapes from prisons. An escape rate of 1200 per year during these times was not uncommon.

This unacceptable situation has now changed and during 1998, we only had 497 escapes. The corresponding escape rate per month in comparison with 1998 has also been much lower thus far for 1999. However, I wish to stress that our aim is a zero escape rate and we will maintain a zero tolerance approach until we have achieved this objective.

We are glad that we are contributing to the safety of communities by drastically bringing down the escape of dangerous prisoners from prison and we are committed to do even better in future.

The development of South Africa's first Supermax Prison in Kokstad is well under way and this institution will bring the escape rate even further down. The construction of the Supermax, which will cater for 1440 prisoners, has already been started and the plan is to have it operational early in the year 2000.

The success of our Cmax prison in Pretoria is also well known. These initiatives and achievements helped to bring down escapes, gang violence and gang activities have been curtailed, we had fewer attacks on staff members and it assisted us in ensuring general stability in prisons. We are committed to continue these successes.

I am also pleased to announce that plans to issue prisoners with new prison uniforms are well advanced. The traditional green uniforms worn by prisoners have become a common garment, which are also used by various other institutions.

We have therefore decided to make the new uniforms orange in colour so that it will be very visible. The word "prisoner" is also woven into the material.

A new corporate wear for members is also being developed. Extensive research has been conducted in this regard as the new Corporate wear will also be aimed at improving security and morale in prisons. We trust that the new wear will be implemented towards the end of this year.

I am furthermore pleased to announce that the department will in future also appoint persons with degrees in Psychology, as counsellors. They will be trained to render structured therapeutic programmes in prisons in order to address the emotional needs of offenders.

The Department of Correctional Services is also in the process of appointing its first female Chaplain. We envisage appointing another two before the end of this year and we are proud of our progress on gender and other areas of equity.

Gender issues are indeed of great importance to the Department of Correctional Services. A series of gender equity workshops were held during 1998 in order to develop a gender policy for correctional service. This has ensured that gender considerations are taken into account during any planning within our department.

Gender training courses and programmes to advance and empower women within the department are also being implemented. A total of 785 females have been appointed in the department during the course of 1998.

The Department of Correctional Services furthermore convened a National Policy Workshop on People with Disabilities during 1998. The purpose of the workshop was to establish the real workplace needs for persons with disabilities. Already great strides have been made in this direction and we will ensure that members with disabilities enjoy equal rights.

The Department of Correctional Services is also making an impact in terms of international developments.

Commissioner Sithole has been appointed Vice Chairperson of the International Correctional Association and present several papers at international forums. Our department is being invited to study other matters of mutual interest and this exposure has been of great assistance to us.

We are currently involved in continental plans to establish an African Correctional Association, and this will be our contribution to this government's initiatives on the African Renaissance.

Problems & Challenges

There are also challenges to our department which we would endeavour to change to achievements.

Overcrowding and lack of space is one of the most pressing challenges the Department of Correctional Services has to face. The high density of prisoners in most of our institutions inevitable impacts on the behaviour of inmates. It has a negative effect on our staff, it hampers the application of rehabilitation and treatment programs, it encourages gangsterism, and many other social ills.

The issue of Aids and HIV in prison is a further matter of concern to the Department of Correctional Services. The known cases of HIV have risen from 1258 in 1997 to 1745 in 1998.

The known Aids cases have risen from 51 to 107 for the same period. In an effort to manage this problem, various clinics have been established to provide education, counselling and to assist with the distribution of condoms.

We are also cognisance of concerns which the public has expressed with regard to the treatment of prisoners with HIV and Aids.

We as a department are sensitive to these concerns and to the basic human rights of prisoners in our care. However, this subject should continue to be the source of debate until a national consensus can be reached.

The matter of undisciplined staff members and the instability in Kwazulu-Natal is also a matter which has recently been in the news and which was debated in NCOP. I would therefore only touch briefly on the most important aspects in this matter.

Definite and concrete steps have been taken by the Department of Correctional Services to address the severe problems we were experiencing in Kwazulu-Natal.

On 9 February 1999 I personally visited Kwazulu-Natal with a senior delegation where we conducted negotiations in Newcastle with all the Area Managers in Kwazulu-Natal. I also met separately with representatives from the two labour unions, namely PSA and Popcru.

I had the opportunity to report the matter of Kwazulu-Natal to Deputy President Mbeki on my return from Newcastle and the possibility of instituting a Commission of Enquiry is under consideration.

The latest reports from the Acting Provincial Commissioner, Mr Korabie is that the situation has calmed down and that everything is under control.

I wish to give the assurance that the Department of Correctional Services is doing everything within its means to address the problems in KZN. Government will not be held ransom by unruly officials who regard themselves above the law.

Then I also need to mention that our department is experiencing problems with corruption and drug trafficking. Although this has become a common problem in the private and public sector, we do endeavour to deal severely with those of our members found involved in these activities. In dealing with this problem, we are also working in close co-operation with other Government agencies.

The Future

In terms of the future, or the way forward for our department, I want to start by referring to the rights and needs of our staff members, in relation to the rights of prisoners which I spoke about earlier. It is imperative that we also find a balance between the needs of prisoners versus those of our members. If we neglect our staff, it can have severe consequences for our department.

I have visited prisons and I have realised that it is an extremely stressful environment to work in. Prisoners are not easy people and they can be very demanding, the conditions in some prisons are not at all comfortable and then there is always the presence of real danger in all our institutions.

The results are that members of the Department of Correctional Services are emotionally, mentally and physically drained on a regular basis and I think it is time that we look at the possibility of establishing stress clinics for our members at some of our institutions. Our personnel cannot survive or cope without proper mental health. I therefore intend raising this matter with my management as soon as possible.

The Department of Correctional Services is also currently working on an Employee Assistance Programme. Information gathering workshops are being conducted to determine the real needs of staff members and the possibility of stress clinics could for instance also be discussed at these forums.

The department is furthermore of the opinion that various other measures can be taken to alleviate the severe problem of overcrowding and we hope to look into these matter in future.

Categories of prisoners which we have in mind and which we feel can be dealt with alternatively, are for instance prisoners who cannot afford small fines and bail amounts.

We are very much aware of the fact that we will never be able to build ourselves out of our overcrowding problems. We need to look beyond old customs and find new ways of solving problems.

There are people in prison who do not necessarily have to be detained inside prisons. I am specifically referring to petty offenders because they do not pose a threat to society.

The State will be saving thousand of taxpayers money and our department will definitely feel the relief, especially if diversion programmes become a regular feature of our Criminal Justice System.

I wish to stress we had no intention to divert dangerous criminals into society. However, we need to ask ourselves whether we are running an efficient and cost effective prison service and we need to have clear directions on what kind of criminals we want behind bars. We maintain that we should rather reserve space in prisons for dangerous criminals.

Further discussions on these proposals will however have to be conducted with the other role players in the Criminal Justice System. Once we have agreed on the guiding principles, Cabinet will be approached for its views and final approval.

In addition to safe custody functions, the Department of Correctional Service also has a development and rehabilitation function. This function basically means that treatment aims to rehabilitate convicted prisoners and to train them in habits of industry and labour. Unlike safe custody with its function of care which is aimed at all prisoners, treatment programmes focus on the sentenced prisoner and people under correctional supervision.

The central theme of all development programmes is also aimed at equipping prisoners with those skills, which can lead to dignified reintegration into society on their release and to decrease recidivism. To realise this goal a number of services are made available to prisoners.

Although we have many successes in the rehabilitation and development of offenders, we also have many failures. The problems of overcrowding, shortage of staff and budgetary constraints contribute to our problems in this regard.

Experience has shown us that illegal activities increase as the sense of work ethic decreases. Labour performed by prisoners has regularly been a topic of discussion. People have been asking why prison labour cannot be used to the benefit of our country or in order to compensate victims, etc.

The Department of Correctional Services is providing training to prisoners in the fields of building and agriculture services as well as production and maintenance workshops.

We also made enormous strides in improving our agriculture and workshop production. The commodities produced and manufactured are usually for the use of the State only. However, only 29% of prisoners are working due to staff shortages and lack of facilities. Although we are producing a lot, we can even do better in future and that is our intention. Productive prison labour can make a difference to the individual prisoner and his environment and therefore programmes must be initiated in order to utilise this labour to the advantage of the individual and his/her country.

Production prison labour can make a difference and should be utilised to the advantage of the country. This will become a focus point in future.

We need to fight crime where it matters. We need to focus our attention where the need is greatest. We need to be inventive and we need the support of our communities. This will remain our guiding principle on the way forward.

Conclusion

The Department of Correctional Services is well positioned for the future. The transformation of our correctional system on matters such as our personnel composition, demilitarisation, the bringing down of escapes, our back to basics approach, etc is indeed exemplary. We have a very clear mission and we will keep our focus goals and objectives.

I am honoured to have been part of this department in the last few months because I believe that we are making an important contribution in the service of our country and our people.

I wish to extend a special word of thanks to Mrs Limpo Hani, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and all the other members of the Committee for the valuable contributions and assistance they have rendered to the department of Correctional Services.

In conclusion I wish to thank the Commissioner, the Chief Deputy Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Provincial Commissioners, Area Managers, Heads of Prisons and all our other loyal and hard working members of the Department of Correctional Services for their diligence and commitment. To work with prisoners is very challenging, but it can also be very rewarding. GOD WILLING.

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