Correctional Services reports: It seems the lady doth protest too much

When the Inspecting Judge of Correctional Services appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Wednesday 17 November 2010, he expressed his frustration that ad hoc reports that he had submitted to the Minister and the Portfolio Committee had elicited no response from the Department. These reports concern a variety of matters, ranging from overcrowding (particularly of remand detention facilities), to poor maintenance of DCS facilities, to the lack of rehabilitative programmes, to unnatural deaths in detention.

These reports that are submitted from time to time form the basis of the Annual Report that the Inspecting Judge submits to the Minister who, in turn, tables it in Parliament. The Annual Report for 2009/10 was tabled in Parliament some considerable time ago, and has been before the Minister even longer.

The Department now accuses the Judge of failing to take the Ministry into his confidence before the contents of the Annual Report were publicised in the Sunday Independent. It is difficult to understand why the Minister feels aggrieved for not having been taken into the Judge's confidence when she herself tabled the Annual Report in Parliament.

But the Department's reaction is typical of how it responds to criticism. Instead of acknowledging both the praise and the criticism contained in the Annual Report, the Department has cast aspersions on the Judge's motives. Nor is the mentioning of these matters confined to the Annual Report: the Inspecting Judge, as has been stated, submits very many reports highlighting shortcomings in the Department that hardly even elicit a reaction from the Department.

Indeed, were it not for the fact that the Portfolio Committee decided that it wanted an account from the Department about what it was doing about the matters highlighted in the Annual Report, it is doubtful whether the Department would have been galvanised into producing the "draft action plan to address and respond on (sic) all matters raised in the report".

The fact is that while there are many things to celebrate in the Department's activities, there is much that is wrong with it. The Inspecting Judge plays a very important role in putting right what is wrong. He and his office need to be supported and strengthened, not accused of ignoring some petty protocols. And the Minister needs to develop a thicker skin.

Statement issued by James Selfe MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Correctional Services, November 19 2010

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