South Africa needs an effective prison rehabilitation programme

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South Africa’s prison population has been increasing since 2016; the total number of inmates is about 161 054. The prison system is characterised by overcrowding, poor living conditions, sexual abuse, gang violence, ill-treatment, no access to proper medical attention and limited access to education, work, sports or to the library. 

The prison system is not an effective rehabilitative environment. There is no one single cause of the high crime rate in the country, but many are symptomatic of South Africa being one of the most unequal societies in the world. It has high levels of economic inequality, poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, substance abuse and marginalisation.

Instead of locking people away for years, South African prisons need to provide extensive rehabilitation programmes to prepare the prisoners to be productive members of society. Unfortunately, these programmes are often reduced or shut down because of inadequate funding, even those provided by civil society organisations. 

Prisoners are not prepared for going back to their families and work when they come out ofprison. There are little to no support systems in place for their reintegration.

Prisons have four major purposes — retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. Retribution means punishment for crimes against society. Depriving criminals of their freedom is a way of making them pay their debt to society for their crimes. Incapacitation is the removal of criminals from society so that they can no longer harm innocent people. Deterrence means the prevention of future crimes; it is hoped that the possibility of going to prison will discourage people from breaking the law. Rehabilitation refers to activities designed to change criminals into law abiding citizens, and may include providing educational courses in prison, teaching job skills and offering counselling with a psychologist or social worker. 

The number of repeat offenders is evidence that, in particular, existing rehabilitation programmes fail to help the offender understand their wrongs and prepare them to re-enter society as a reformed person. 

These five activities could assist in improving our prison system to rehabilitate the prisoners and indirectly reduce the crime rate.

Increase psychosocial support in prison by incorporating mandatory one-on-one and group counselling services. Rehabilitative programmes must target the problems that caused the offenders to turn to crime in the first place, especially the ones related to an individual’s psychology. An analysis into environmental influences such as alcohol and drug use, poverty and limited education can both predict and give insight into a neighbourhood, showing the areas where rehabilitative programmes need to focus to help the prisoners from those places.
Investment into better prison facilities, infrastructure and services is crucial in creating a rehabilitative environment. With overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor nutrition and inadequate medical care, the rehabilitative measures become ineffective because it creates a toxic space. Improving prison conditions and reducing prison overcrowding will assist in creating an effective rehabilitation environment which encourages prisoners to work on themselves and not have to worry about getting illnesses, sleeping on the floor and eating rotten food.
Provide all prisoners with real access to education, vocational training and work. One of the key reasons South Africans, especially those from previously disadvantaged areas, commit crime is because of economic inequality caused by unemployment. 
Prisoners’ rights to dignity, bodily integrity and the right to be protected from any cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment must be upheld. A big part of this will require the department of correctional services to do more than just adopt their 2013 promulgated Policy to Address Sexual Abuse of Inmates to address the sexual violence in prisons. Sexual violence has many emotional, physical and psychological effects on victims. Rape in prison reflects and reinforces some men’s understanding of sex as an expression of male dominance, and therefore contribute to the continued perpetration of sexual violence in the general population, upon release. Men who are admitted to prison for crimes other than sexual offences may become traumatised and desensitised to sexual violence in prison as a result of experiencing or witnessing sexual assault. In turn, these men may become perpetrators of rape or sexual violence.
Improved human resource management and training needs to be afforded to prison staff. Staff shortages and inadequate shift systems leave inmates unmonitored for hours at a time or locked up for long periods, limiting their access to development and rehabilitative programmes, health-care, and psychosocial support services. If the staff is privy to the crimes and problems experienced by prisoners, the environment is not conducive for rehabilitation.

If rehabilitation programs are successful at reducing recidivism, they not only can reduce crime but also can result in direct and indirect fiscal benefits to the government. Direct fiscal benefits include reduced incarceration costs, because offenders will not return to prison, as well as reduced crime victim assistance costs. Indirect benefits could include reduced costs for public assistance, because offenders receive job training that leads to employment, thereby reducing the level of public assistance needed. If rehabilitation programmes are operated effectively, these benefits can exceed the costs of providing the programmes.

South Africa needs to reform the prison system.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.