“Normal” Prisons in an “abnormal” society? A comparative perspective on South African prison law and practice

Notes

• Haesler . 1986 . Südafrikanischer Strafvollzug . Zeitschrift für Strafvollzug und Straffälligenhilfe , 35 : 14 calculated that 440 persons per 100,000 of population were imprisoned in South Africa in 1984. On June 30, 1985, that is, before a state of emergency was declared for the first time, there were 108,392 persons in South African prisons. This figure excludes those detained in the “independent” states of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, and Ciskei (Report of the Dept of Justice, supra note 2)
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• Rudolph , H. 1984 . Security, Terrorism and Torture , : 3 – 60 . In the case of persons held for interrogation under § 29(1) of the Internal Security Act, “directions” issued by the Minister of Law and Order are supposed to provide guidelines on interrogation procedures. Several notorious cases of deaths in captivity, including those of Steve Biko and Neill Aggett, have involved detentions in terms of § 29 or its predecessors. For the legal position, see
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• Foster , D. and Sandler , D. 1985 . A Study of Detention and Torture in South Africa: Preliminary Report
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• Roux . The Rehabilitation Role of the South African Prison Service . Crime and Punishment in South Africa , 253 – 61 . (J.R. Midgley ed. 1975). The influence of the Standard Minimum Rules is also emphasized in Prison Administration in South Africa supra note 2
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• Smit , Van Zyl . Prisons . The Law of South Africa , 21 215 – 20 . Such prisoners may be sentenced to solitary confinement, corporal punishment, and other punishments but only after a further disciplinary procedure, during which they must be formally charged, tried, and convicted, has been followed.
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• Zellick . 1981 . Prison Rules and the Courts . CRIM. L.R. , 602 Arbon v. Anderson, 19431 All E.R. 156. See also Becker v. Home Office, 1972 2 All E.R., at 682. This interpretation of the English prison rules has been confirmed more recently in Williams v. Home Office No. 2, 1982 All E.R. 564. See
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• Rudolph . 1979 . "Man's Inhumanity to Man Makes Countless Thousands Mourn!” Do Prisoners Have Rights? . South African Law Journal , 96 : 640
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• 1979 . The Appellate Division and Prisoners’ Rights in South Africa: Goldberg v. Minister of Prisons . South African J. Crim. L. and Criminology , 3 : 52 (notes by D.H. van Wyk, B. van Niekerk, R.G. Nairn, and J. Taitz) and the note by F.M. Theart in Tydskrif vir Suidafrikaanse Reg 161 (1979)
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• van Rooyen . 1981 . Aspekte van Reg en Geregtigheid met betrekking tot Gevangenes . Tydskrif vir Hedendaagse Romeins‐Hollandse Reg , 44 : 1 See the analysis of this policy by
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• Mureinik . 1985 . Fundamental Rights and Delegated Legislation . South African J. on Hum. Rts , 1 : 111
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• van Smit , Zyl . 1984 . Public Policy and the Punishment of Crime in South Africa . Crime & Soc. Just. , 21–22 : 146 The origins of officially sanctioned racial discrimination in prisons at the Cape can be traced back to the provision of cheap black convict labor for the diamond mines. See
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• Schoch , H. Strafvollzug: Ein Lehrbuch , 95 – 97 .
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• Kaiser , G. , Kerner , H.J. and Schoch , H. , eds. 1982 . H. Müller‐Dietz, Strafvollzugsrecht 65 – 70 .
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• Müeller‐Dietz . 1984 . Schuldschwere und Urlaub aus der Haft . Juristische Rundschau , : 353 – 61 . Kelk, supra note 67 at 22, summarizes the various arguments put forward on this topic. In West Germany a cautious indication from the Federal Supreme Court (the Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE 64, 261ff. von 28.6.1983]) that the gravity of the original offense might be considered when furloughs from prison are considered has been strongly condemned:
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• Richardson . 1984 . Time to Take Prisoners’ Rights Seriously . J. L. & Soc'y , 11 : 1 – 32 . For a summary of this debate, which has generated a large literature, see
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• Bailey , S. , Harris , D. and Jones , B. 1985 . Civil Liberties, Cases and Materials , : 551 – 53 . Prison Regulation 99(l)(o). A similar rule of England has been heavily criticized: See
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• Van Niekerk . 1981 . Judicial Visits to Prisons: The End of a Myth . South Africa L.J , 98 : 416
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• Mathews , A. 1978 . the Darker Reaches of Government 149 – 51 . The Prisons Act, supra note 23, at § 44(1)(f) makes it an offense to publish “false information” about prisons or prisoners. If someone were to publish information which was held to be false, the onus would be on him to show that he had taken “reasonable steps” to verify the information in order to escape liability. In S. v. S.A. Associated Newspapers Ltd., 1970 (1) SA 469(W) the requirements of corrobora‐tion to be met before “reasonable steps” could be shown to have been taken, were set so high that, for more than a decade after this decision, very little other than officially sanctioned information about prisons appeared in the South African press. See also
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• Maguire . Prisoners’ Grievances: The Role of the Boards of Visitors . Accountability and Prisons , 141 – 86 . (M. Maguire, G. Vagg & R. Morgan eds. 1985)
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• Macmanus , J. 1986 . Visiting Committees in Scottish Penal Establishments . Scottish Office Research Unit Papers . 1986 .
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• 1986 . The Cape Times , March 27
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• van Zyl Smit . 1985 . The Legislative Entitlements of Security Detainees and Prisoners’ Rights . South African J. on Hum. Rts. , : 160ff 106 Moekoena v. Commissioner of Prisons, 1985 (1) SA 386(W), discussed by
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• van Zyl Smit and Offen . 1984 . Corporal Punishment—Joining Issue . South African J. of Crim. L. & Criminology , 9 : 69 Thus legislation was introduced in 1986 to increase the range of crimes for which corporal punishment may be imposed. For the background to the new legislation see
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