Correctional Services has an action plan to address matters raised by the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services (JIOCS), November 19 2010

The Ministry in the Department of Correctional Services has noted with appreciation matters raised by the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services (JIOCS) in its annual report presented to the Correctional Services Portfolio Committee in Parliament on Wednesday.

The Ministry and the Department has studied the JIOCS annual report and has already developed a draft action plan to address and respond on all matters raised in the report, which will be presented to Correctional Services National Commissioner, Mr Tom Moyane, when he returns from a study tour in New York in the United States of America.

However, the Ministry of Correctional Services also takes this opportunity to express its extreme concern and disappointment with the office of the Inspecting Judge in that unlike other oversight bodies such as the Office of the Auditor-General, the Judicial Inspectorate on Correctional Services has failed to take into confidence the Office of the Minister of Correctional Services on its over sight findings prior to taking these to the media as reported in the Sunday Independent on 7 November 2010, not as an obligation on the part of the office of the Inspecting Judge but in the spirit of mutual cooperation and of working together to find solutions to the challenges confronting the Department of Correctional Services.

The department wishes to re-iterate its confidence and respect of the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services and appreciates the amount of work it has done and the analysis reflected in the report, which will contribute in the efforts of the leadership of the department to turn around its service delivery capacity.

We also appreciate the JIOCS' acknowledgement of progress made, although not enough, in a number of areas that include:

• The reduction of overcrowding from 170 percent to 138 percent in ten years
•  Increased local capacity to delivery better services through the implementation of the of the OSD and the 7-day establishment
•  The continued reduction of unnatural deaths that went down from 62 in 2008/09 to 49 in 2009/10 financial year, a 21 percent decrease
•  Increasing numbers of offenders getting involved in productive work and recreation as methods of mitigating the impact of overcrowding that continues as an international phenomenon.

It needs to be noted that the matter of deaths inside correctional centres is a critical priority used as one of the indicators of the safe custody. Although the levels of death remain high, we appreciate the continued implementation of our strategies to down manage deaths in general and unnatural deaths in particular.It must be noted that all unnatural deaths are reported to the police and the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services for further investigation and criminal proceedings, particularly in instances of homicide or murder.

We also appreciate the reflections on the impact of the broader framework of the criminal justice system on Correctional Services, like the minimum sentence legislation that resulted in 572 percent increase of the number of lifers in custody.Other issues being handled by the JCPS, mentioned by the JIOCS are: the plea bargain, better management of the Remand Detention System and use of the option of the admission of guilt fine by the South African Police Services for minor offences. Indeed these are matters the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster is seized with.

It should be noted though that the unacceptable incarceration conditions prevailing in some of our centres is not a uniform phenomenon across correctional centres.The issues of infrastructure development and maintenance needs highlighted in Rustenburg and other facilities are being attended to as the infrastructure revamping and improvement programmes costing about R800 million is being rolled out.

Other issues regarded as priorities include down management of deaths, increasing offender access to rehabilitation and corrections programmes, as well as increase provision of basic service to offenders.Actually these matters are contained in the minister's service delivery agreement and were central in the strategic planning session of the Executive Management facilitate by the National Commissioner two weeks ago.

The department is planning to engage the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services soon while also preparing for a comprehensive response to the Portfolio Committee in due course.

Statement issued by the Ministry of Correctional Services, November 19 2010

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