In December 2020, the Constitutional Court confirmed the order of constitutional invalidity made by the Western Cape High Court in Sonke Gender Justice NPC v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others regarding certain provisions of the Correctional Services Act dealing with the independence of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services. The Court […]
Zia Wasserman, national prisons coordinator at Sonke Gender Justice, writes about the 2019 court case victory that confirmed the rights of detained persons and supported the need for the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services to be more independent. Read the full article here: OPINION | A small victory in the fight for the protection of prisoners’ […]
2019 opinion piece collectively written by members of the DJF, expressing our views on the death penalty. Read the full article here: The death penalty won’t end gender-based violence. […]
Zia Wasserman, national prisons coordinator at Sonke Gender Justice, writes about the Dudley Lee case and the state of South African prisons today. Read the full article here: Cold Stone Jug: The prison legacy of Dudley Lee. […]
By Gwen Dereymaeker Ebongweni C-Max prison in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, is meant to house inmates who have exhibited consistent disruptive behaviour and are regarded as particularly dangerous and violent. However, it is unclear whether the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has clear policy criteria to decide who should be transferred there. Today, Ebongweni holds about 900 […]
FOR RELEASE: 7 September 2015 Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Edwin Cameron released a report this week on his visit to Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility and Pollsmoor Women’s Correctional Centre. The visit was undertaken in April this year, as part of the Constitutional Court’s prison visiting project, and the report details the “sickening conditions” he and […]