Why Prison In South Africa Won’t Work

There are many reasons why the prison system in South Africa, as it is currently structured, won’t work.

From a prisoners perspective, he is able to manipulate the flaws in the system which as a result does not make or keep the prisoner responsible for the crimes he has committed or for his own keep. The reality is that the system keeps him from becoming responsible and perpetuates the reality that the tax-payer and family of criminals are responsible for him. The concept of responsibility within a social norm is lost on the inmate.

While the criminal was doing his crimes, society was the victim, but through the incarceration system society remains the victim.

Reintegration of the prisoner into the social stream. Reintegration. What a lovely word. But what does it mean when you look at the structures in place which are ‘designed’ to reintegrate inmates prisoners back into an honest way of life? How pretty a word can it be when you realise the manner in which these ‘structures’ determine how prison life plays itself out on the ground? When the reality is taken into account, the word ‘reintegration’ loses its colour and fades into the meaningless.

What is the reality

• Inmates and warders alike are able to enrich themselves at the expense of the tax payer. Thousands of prisoners will tell you, especially while awaiting trial, how their food ration is smuggled in front of their eyes, sold and the proceeds shared between inmates and warders. (I worked in a prison kitchen as a chef for about 3 months during 1994. Between myself and my fellow chef, we made around ZAR400 per day selling meat, sugar & milk we would take from the store for which we paid a cut – and we weren’t even pushing it). In a big prison and usually where awaiting trials are held, head cooks and kitchen workers can make  a thousand a day by splitting, slicing and stealing prisoners rations. Access to the stores, whether they be food stores, stores for cleaning materials, stationery, whatever, are a major security issue within any prison – or should be – when considering the losses involved.

For example: 1 cook sells 5 litres of milk powder (a ‘skaf tin’), for ZAR10. He sells 5 skaf tins a day = ZAR50 per day. Take 120 odd prisons countrywide and just the 1 prisoner doing his trade at each prison = ZAR6000 per day. He does that each day of the year = ZAR1 950 000 per year (Multiply this by about 6 and you’ll have a more realistic of what prisoners are pocketing just in Milk Powder) Then apply the same principal to sugar, meat, fruit, peanut butter, etc. Frighteneing? Well, it should be, because this is the reality.And we haven’t yet touched on the cleaning materials and toiletries etc.)

• Inmates, upon entry to a prison is usually made B or C Group prisoners. They are then able to earn their A Group by staying out of trouble. In reality, the A Group status gives only one additional privilege. Contact visits. All you have to do to earn your A Group is stay out of trouble. To a criminal it means “Just Don’t Get Caught”. Any system which is aimed at reconciling criminals with society and offers a system which is so easily manipulated and corrupted by the criminal mind should be outlawed by society itself. But soc’ keeps itself a victim and it’s the emotional aspect which is killing the purpose of the prison system. I know a lot of people will shout and say that it just isn’t that simple. The truth is, to a criminals mind … IT IS! It is that simple.

For Example: You are the victim, you’re hurting, you want to see this guy locked away forever. Great, you’re entitled to feel that way, but when that way starts dictating the treatment of captured people generally, it needs to be checked. Because there is someone who loves the guy, who visits him every weekend or every month with parcels and cigarettes and tracksuits and takkies and , and, and, and …. Why is this a problem? Because it creates an emotional imbalance to what should be a problem approached without emotion.

But even more than this, it enables the prisoner a life in which he never provides for himself. This is exactly what the system needs to do to effectively rehabilitate and reintegrate wrongdoers. Make him responsible for himself. In my view the families and friends of inmates should NOT BE ALLOWED to buy tracksuits, shoes, radios, or whatever. BUT, this does not mean that a prisoner should not be given the means by which to earn this privilege; or even earn the right to buy his own through application to a system which pays through the constructive empowerment of the communities in which prisons are based … and using inmates as the ultimate tool to ensure the success of empowerment at grass roots level. BEE? Prisoners can play a big, big role, but the system needs to enable this to happen and society needs to demand relief from the huge (and unnecessary) costs involved in the daily keep of a prisoner.

If you have an interest, please check back periodically or subscribe to my feeds. I’ll add to the Why ‘Prison Won’t Work’ page on the Crime Pages menu from time to time. There really is so much that requires graphic description. Being an uneducated writer I fear I don’t quite get the urgency of the message across, but I hope to get better as I go.

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