Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, firstly, I just want to remind the prophets of doom of the words by Mark Antony. He said in Julius Caesar that "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with" the Ministers.
In our democracy, we have reached a point where treating inmates with respect is increasingly being seen as an important part of the breaking of the cycle of crime. Ignoring the rights and plight of offenders and those who are incarcerated is seen as counterproductive, since a hostile environment in prison can lead to further antisocial behaviour and bitterness towards society and authority structures. Rehabilitation, as a policy of our democratic government, is a process of assisting offenders spiritually and psychologically to understand the disorder their actions created, not only for themselves and their victims, but for humanity as a whole. It also becomes important that the community be involved in the rehabilitation process.
The state has a duty to maintain public order and promote the common good, while at the same time respecting the rights of prisoners. The government and Members of Parliament, both from the majority party and the opposition parties, support the introduction of restorative justice and the further allocation of resources to rehabilitation as an important way of breaking the spiralling cycle of crime in South Africa.
According to an expert, that there are some unhealthy conditions in South Africa's prisons, is not something new. There are many problems that face the South African penal system, but the root problem is not simply one of crime or overcrowding, as some have suggested, but is found on a variety of levels. To ascribe one cause, for example a lack of resources, overcrowding or poverty, as the root of the problem, is too simplistic.
The conditions in South African prisons are a major contributing factor to the general crime situation in the country, but to leave it at that would be to miss the larger picture.
Poverty, the effects of apartheid and the attitude of society towards prisoners and former inmates, all contribute to the high repeat-offender rates and the lack of successful reintegration into our community.
South Africa is gradually moving towards a violent society. The brutalising effects of apartheid are felt throughout our communities, from the high incidence of abuse and rape to robbery and hijackings, South Africans are confronted by this evidence, either through personal experience or through the media.
The new-generation prisons, which are able to facilitate the unit management cells, are a model to be copied. We would have liked the Department of Public Works to fast-track the construction of these five new- generation prisons to provide some relief from overcrowding. The two public- private prisons, one in the Free State and the other one in Limpopo, are models of prisons. The unfortunate thing is that they only concentrate on training long-term inmates. We would have advised them that it would be necessary that they take the youths that are loitering in prison to go and get some training there, instead of the long-term servers, lifers, people who are going to stay there for many years. Those skills will end up in prison, rather than going to the youth, so that when they go out, they go with some skills. That is what we are proposing.
There is a move from prisons in all provinces to encourage all inmates to participate in some kind of work. There are a number of workshops for inmates in almost all the provinces, for training in building, brick- making, plumbing, carpentry, electricity, mechanics, upholstery, sewing, etc. These skills would be of great help to the inmates when they are released from prison. The unfortunate thing is that they are not in all prisons in South Africa; they are in some areas but in others there are not enough facilities so that all prisoners could get training and skills.
There is also the question of preventing serious offenders from moving from prison to court, because that is always the time when they escape. We are suggesting that there should be courts in prisons for serious offenders, so that they are sentenced there in prison, instead of going out. That project has started; there is one, for instance, in St Albans prison, and I think there is another one in Goodwood prison, where magistrates and even judges come to the prison.
We are saying that there must be more of these types of courts in all the big maximum security prisons throughout South Africa. We are encouraging that.
I will never forget a statement that was made in New Zealand. The Minister of Justice was asking, why is there no overcrowding in your prisons? They said, "We do not keep an inmate who has committed a minor offence in prison." That is the statement he put to us. "We do not keep an inmate who has committed a minor offence in prison. It is only serious offenders who stay in prison." That was what he said. He told us that out of 26 000 people who have been sentenced, only 6 000 stay in prison; 20 000 are out of prison.