Inspectorate's Annual Report: Changes needed to ensure prisons are in compliance

The Inspecting Judge of Correctional Services, Judge Deon van Zyl, presented his annual report to the Portfolio Committee today. The report was described correctly by the Chairperson of the Committee as "incredibly depressing". It chronicles serious inefficiencies and breaches of the Act, and the failure, for the most part, of the Department of Correctional Services to act against negligent officials.

The Judge told the Committee that the Inspectorate was often "frustrated" by the lack of reaction to its often strongly worded reports on investigations into these matters. He said, for example, that neither the Minister nor her Deputy had reacted to the report, despite the fact that it was made available to them some weeks ago.

The Judge suggested that he should have the power to make quasi-judicial orders to ensure immediate compliance in urgent and serious cases of negligence, power abuse, maladministration or corruption.

In response to one of my questions, Judge van Zyl suggested that the Correctional Services Act ought to be amended to provide the Inspectorate with these additional powers.

The Portfolio Committee will be considering amendments to the Act, introduced by the Minister, early in the new year. The Democratic Alliance will be seeking the support of the other members of the Committee to further amend the Act to make the Judicial Inspectorate completely independent of the Department, so that it can exercise its valuable oversight role without fear or favour.

We will also be formulating amendments to allow the Inspecting Judge to make orders to ensure that prisons in South Africa are run in strict compliance with the law and the regulations.

Statement issued by James Selfe MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Correctional Services, November 17 2010

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