In 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, established a program to promote international understanding and friendship among different countries and diverse cultures. The purpose of the program was to open the lines of communication through the exchange of ideas and experiences. The mission of the People to People Programs developed around a concept where citizens of different nations would meet and share experiences firsthand.
In conjunction with the People to People Professional Ambassador Program, a professional corrections delegation, comprising wardens, psychiatrists, and educators from across the United States traveled to South Africa in November 2007. The goal of the visit was to share in an open dialogue regarding the two countries’ respective corrections systems.
South Africa was selected because many of the issues that the country is experiencing, with unemployment rates at 40 percent, HIV/AIDS, overcrowding, poverty, the chasm between the classes, and the reentry efforts conducted by the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO), are very similar to the issues experienced by the United States; however, South Africa’s issues are on a much larger scale. The stark contrasts of beauty and brutality are evident throughout the country and in every aspect of its history and culture. By meeting with corrections ministers, legal aid representatives, police, and reentry professionals, the delegation hoped to learn some innovative strategies for handling these situations. The ensuing discussions at the respective departments were truly open and frank.
The lessons learned from the discussions were as dichotomous as the country itself in that South Africa is a country that looks ahead to what can be, sometimes with the inability to address what is. The corrections system in South Africa reflects the dichotomy in both its plans as well as in its current implementation concerning classification, housing, rehabilitation, and reentry approaches.
The country’s court system is broken down into three distinct courts. According to Emile Viviers, an attorney with the Molefe Roux law firm, located in Pretoria, the Magistrate and District Courts oversee less serious offenses, such as shoplifting, assault, or violations of municipal law. Offenders can be sentenced to up to 3 years with a 100 ZAR, or 16 U.S. dollars, fine. The Regional Court is representative of a larger geographic area and generally hears offenses such as robbery, carjacking, and murder. The High Court has jurisdiction over all matters in their geographical area, but it usually only hears civil matters involving more than 100,000 ZAR and serious criminal cases. There is no jurisdictional limit, with nine jurisdictions presently in place and dealing with most of what would be considered felony cases.
Offenders can receive life imprisonment and up to 500,000 ZAR, or 83,000 U.S. dollars, in fines. There is no longer a death penalty in South Africa, and a sentence of “life” usually means 25 years without parole. South African law also has put in place the Minimum Sentencing Act, mandating guidelines to the court for use in sentencing to dissuade unreasonable time limits or restrictions being placed upon offenders. Additionally, it appears that the current law does not include some prevalent issues dealing with anal rape. At present, no laws address the issue, and anal rape is still viewed and prosecuted as an “assault.” Rape, specifically prison rape, remains an issue in the prisons, as does the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The South African court system does not offer consecutive sentences, and all sentencing must run concurrently. A number of “life” sentences are handed down in cases where an extremely egregious or heinous crime has taken place, but the offenders are still eligible for parole after 25 years.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), not considered a formal court, was established to address apartheid-related political crimes, that is, gross and severe violations related to human rights. Amnesty, reparation, and rehabilitation are the core components for the TRC.
The South African Correctional System, or Department of Correctional Services (DCS), has experienced changes because of the African National Congress (ANC), a political power that came into office after apartheid’s ascendancy to authority in the 1990s. The ensuing transition provided for an increase in violence from the tumultuous change after the apartheid regime. The DCS has been dealt numerous challenges in its attempts to transcend from the apartheid system of control to a more modern correctional system.
The purpose of the correctional system is to contribute to maintaining and protecting that society, by enforcing the sentences handed down from the courts as prescribed, ensures the offenders’ safe custody, while, at the same time, ensures their human dignity. The system also has the mandate to promote the social responsibility and human development of all prisoners and persons subject to the community corrections programming. In order to create the new South African standards for human incarceration under the new regime, the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 was established. The document is considered liberal and was clearly drafted to “protect a just, peaceful, and safe society.”
In 2005, the Department of Correctional Services put together a white paper, or government report, expounding upon and setting out goals, the new 20-year vision that placed rehabilitation at the center of the paradigm. Rehabilitation is defined in that document as the correction of the offending behavior and the development and ultimate promotion of social responsibility, as well as values. The DCS’s white paper provided the structure for the implementation of policy that was then phased into 36 DCS Centre’s of Excellence. The document placed rehabilitation at the forefront, believing that prevention of recidivism was best met through opportunities for offenders to improve and to correct their behavior, and not through punishment.
Currently, the Department of Corrections Services has under its purview seven programs. The programs include administration, security, corrections, development, care, social reintegration, and facilities management. At the time of the delegation’s visit to South Africa, prison overcrowding continued to be an enormous problem. Prisoner numbers reached their highest in February 2005 at 185,632. The numbers began to decline following the implementation of an amnesty program dealing with certain categories of sentenced prisoners and an early release of 30,704 prisoners in August 2005.
Of note is that the prison capacity was indicated to be 100,000. Contrary to expectation though, prison population from 2004 to 2007 hovered between 160,000 and 180,000. The reason for the overwhelming increases in population is that in the South African prison system, the pretrial, or unsentenced, inmates are kept in the very same facilities as the sentenced prisoners. The unsentenced population accounts for over 30% of the overall prison population, standing at over 45,000. As of May 2007, the prisoner population is broken down by category and crime classification, consisting of aggressive crimes, 54%; economical crimes, 24%; sexual crimes, 16%; narcotics, 2%; and other crimes represents 4%. Gender and age are specifics also taken into account. At the time of the trip, females constituted 18% of the overall population and children approximately 27%.
The corrections program aims to provide needs-based correctional and sentencing plans targeting all elements associated with offending behavior in order to address the specific rehabilitation needs. DCS has introduced unit management in the Centre’s of Excellence, as well as risk assessment and profiling of offenders as a pilot or startup program. DCS is working toward the development of four programs, that is, substance abuse, prerelease, anger management, and sexual offenses. DCS has also accredited two external service providers for anger management and peer drug counseling, but many nongovernmental, or NGO, entities have no funding and cannot continue offering services to prisoners. Furthermore, the development program through the DCS aims to provide needs-based personal development services to all offenders through vocational and technical training, recreation, sports, and education in order to develop employable and productive citizens and to facilitate reintegration of offenders.
The in-custody programs and offender services ratio that presently exist consist of 37 psychologists, or 1 to every 4,062 prisoners; 387 social workers, or 1 to every 413 prisoners; and 412 teachers, or 1 to every 388 prisoners. To compound matters, there is limited opportunity for employment or vocational and educational training within the facility due to current staffing and interest levels from the community. Currently, training is only provided to sentenced prisoners.
The DCS identified a “rehabilitation path” consisting of nine steps for offenders while in custody. During admission and orientation, a basic person profile is given, and the inmate receives information on the corrections system. The inmates then obtain the rules and regulations and are sorted for their assignment to the respective DCS facilities. The offender is evaluated for security competence and understanding. Personal restoration takes place through programming whereby the offender identifies issues and begins the process of personal accountability. Role modeling is available within the DCS through DCS- endorsed projects. Role modeling service to society is also available. Finally, release, reintegration, reconciliation, and restoration take place.
Whereas many of the services and information are already taking place in prisons across the United States, the DCS advised that it had hoped for full implementation of the nine steps in 2008. It would appear at first glance that, indeed, the country has kept pace with counterparts in the correctional services arena, but the implementation has fallen behind. The efforts that the DCS set forth thus far and the achievements gained in such a short period are not to be criticized in any way, nor is the integrity of the white paper to be diminished. The harsh reality is, however, that South African prisons are overcrowded, services are deficient in response to poor funding of NGOs, and the Department of Correctional Services is lacking in its ability to implement objectives laid out in the interpretation of the white paper.
In conclusion, the 34th President of the United States was a true visionary in his conceptualization with relation to international dialogue. The mission of the People to People Programs was attained through the delegation’s frank and open discussions with its South African counterparts. Professional ambassadors from the two nations met and shared some innovative strategies for handling issues that both countries are experiencing pertaining to their respective corrections systems. South Africa and the United States will continue to work together toward the betterment of their respective systems and a future of international understanding.
Endnotes
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