CSPRI Newsletter No. 42 - December 2012 / January 2013
This newsletter discusses the right to redress for victims of torture and other ill-treatment, and considers whether the new international guidelines will provide better access to redress for victims at a domestic level.
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku December 2012 / January 2013
This edition of 30 days covers news items from December 2012 and January 2013, covering prison conditions, escapes, unsentenced prisoners, South Africans imprisoned abroad, and news from other African countries.
Lee v Minister of Correctional Services CCT 20 /12, 11 December 2012
Lee v Minister of Correctional Services CCT 20 /12, 11 December 2012
Mr Lee contracted tuberculosis (TB) while in prison. He sued the Minister for damages on the basis that the poor prison health management resulted in his becoming infected. The High Court upheld the claim on the basis that the prison authorities had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent Mr Lee from contracting TB.The majority of the court noted that there is a legal duty on the responsible authorities to provide adequate health care services as part of the constitutional right of all prisoners to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity.
November 2012 AFRICAN PRETRIAL JUSTICE MONITOR
'Locking up my rights': Arbitrary arrest, detention and treatment of detainees in Mozambique
This joint report between the Mozambique Human Rights League and Amnesty International looks at the shortcomings of the Mozambique criminal justice system, with a focus on arbitrary arrest and detention.
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku November 2012
This edition of 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku covers news items reported during November 2012 on prison conditions, rehabilitation, unsentenced prisoners, sentencing and parole and South African prisoners abroad.
Submission on the Issue of Relative Resourcing of Police Areas
This is in response to the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha and a breakdown of relations between the community and the police in Khayelitsha
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku October 2012
This edition of 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku covers news items from October 2012 on governance and corruption, parole and sentencing, prison conditions, unsentenced prisoners and rehabilitation, as well as prison related news from other African countries.
October 2012 AFRICAN PRETRIAL JUSTICE MONITOR
Draft White Paper on Remand Detention Management in South Africa
Following the outcome of an interdepartmental project led by the DCS aimed at re-engineering the way in which awaiting trial detainees are dealt with, the Cabinet Lekgotla decided in January 2009 that the DCS must establish a Branch that will be responsible for the management of awaiting trial detainees.This White Paper deals with the remand detention population as a very distinct entity from the population of sentenced offenders. It recognises the unique challenges associated with persons who are detained although not yet found guilty of any crime. It distinguishes this population from a population focused on rehabilitation and acknowledges the duty to hold such a population for purposes of attending court.
The ability of the JICS to effectively promote and protect the rights of inmates depends on the extent to which it is independent of political and executive influence. Accordingly, this submission focuses on the financial and administrative aspects of the JICS as well as the nature and objects of its legislative powers.
CSPRI Submission on the Strengthening of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services
Submission to 52nd Session, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
Tackling the Entry Point to the Criminal Justice System
Submission to the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry
CSPRI made a submission to the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha and a breakdown in relations between the community and the police in Khayelitsha. Bearing in mind the obligations under the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol, the recommendations touch upon meaningful independent oversight, including at the provincial level; improved training of law enforcement officials; prompt and impartial investigations of allegations of torture; and public co-operation.
Submission by the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI) to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the National Prosecuting Authority Annual Report, 16 October 2012
This one page submission speaks to the relationship between pre-trial detention and the right to liberty in South Africa
Statement submitted to the 52nd session of the African Commission
This statement calls on the Commssion to start the process of developing a guideline on the use and conditions of police custody and pre-trial detention for Africa.
September 2012 AFRICAN PRETRIAL JUSTICE MONITOR
Submission on the JICS Annual Report 2011/12
With this submission, CSPRI wishes to draw the Portfolio Committee’s attention to the fact that since its establishment in 2000, the JICS has not been the subject of a review process scrutinising whether it is indeed advancing prisoners’ rights in South Africa. CSPRI submits that continuous and regular review is necessary in order for state institutions to adapt to changing needs and improve efficiency and effectiveness. The submission discusses the independence of JICS and the current investigative regime and encourages JICS to include recommendations, based on national and international law and jurisprudence, whenever it reports concerns.
Draft Resolution on the Use and Conditions of Police Custody and Pretrial Detention in Africa, Zero Draft, April 2012
Rwanda: Shrouded in secrecy Illegal detention and torture by Rwanda’s military intelligence
Amnesty International began to receive reports of enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in March 2010. This spate of human rights violations happened as military intelligence launched investigations into threats to national security in the run-up to the August 2010 presidential elections. Grenade attacks, rare in recent years, multiplied after February 2010. Some security analysts attributed them to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed opposition group based ineastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Growing tensions within the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) following the departure of the former army chief, General Kayumba Nyamwasa, in February 2010 also allegedly raised the spectre of potential security threats from within the army. As part of the Rwandan authorities’ investigations into security matters, individuals were arrested, often arbitrarily, by the military, sometimes acting in collaboration with the police. Those arrested were almost exclusively men aged between 20 and 45. Most of the cases documented here are of civilians, including demobilized military. Other cases include members of the Rwandan army or individuals suspected by the Rwandan authorities of belonging to the FDLR. After their arrest, the men were detained incommunicado and interrogated by military intelligence.
Submission on the DCS Annual Report 2011/12
This submission deals with human resources, staff training, children in prisons, discipline and turnstiles. Many of the problems facing the Department of Correctional Services are longstanding and the Portfolio Committee is familiar with these. CSPRI expresses concern about the persistence of these problems. For reasons that are not always clear the same issues undermine performance in the Department without a solution in sight. CSPRI makes a number of recommendations as to how to address the concerns noted.
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku September 2012
This edition of 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku covers news items from August 2012 on governance and corruption, prison conditions and escapes, as well as prison related news from other African countries.
August 2012 AFRICAN PRETRIAL JUSTICE MONITOR
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku August 2012
This edition of 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku covers news items from August 2012 on governance and corruption, parole and sentencing, prison conditions, South Africans imprisoned abroad and rehabilitation, as well as prison related news from other African countries.
Rule of Law in Malawi: The Road to Recovery
Report of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), funded by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA).
Punished for being poor: Outdated offences in the DRC
by Dignité K. Bwiza, University of the Western Cape. This article discusses the status of out-dated offences in the DRC, and its interconnectedness with imprisonment and poverty.
Newsletter 3: Progress on human rights in Mozambique; Outdated offences in Mozambique; Pre-trial detention in Burundi; 'Frais de Bougie'; Outdated offences in the DRC; Measures to improve custody time limit implementation in Malawi
In this third PPJA newsletter we report on matters related to pre-trial detention in Mozambique, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, covering issues such as oversight and monitoring of places of detention, outdated offences resulting in detention, custody time limits on pre-trial detention, and abusive practices associated with poverty in African prisons.
30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku July 2012
This edition of 30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku covers news items from July 2012 on governance and corruption, parole and sentencing, extraditions, prison conditions, South Africans imprisoned abroad and rehabilitation, as well as prison related news from other African countries.
