Prisoners' tellies turned off

2008-06-18 18:20

Cape Town - With pressure for the curtailment of prisoners' privileges mounting, the Correctional Services Department on Wednesday announced a ban on television sets in single cells.

Briefing the National Assembly's correctional services committee, department National Commissioner Vernie Petersen said he would issue an instruction to all heads of the country's correctional services centres to withdraw television viewing privileges in all single cells.

"I will issue an instruction for it to be reversed as soon as possible," he said.

His decision follows MPs' concern about the "five star hotel" treatment currently being enjoyed by prisoners.

Committee chair Dennis Bloem made it clear that MPs were not happy with the fact that prisoners were enjoying a comfortable lifestyle behind bars.

"This committee had never approved any budget to buy TVs for criminals. We have consulted the public broadly on this and now feel that we should put our foot down," he said.

It was unfair that prisoners were enjoying a comfortable lifestyle while their victims were struggling to meet basic needs.

Danger to withdraw all privileges

ANC MP Cindy Chikunga said it was important for the department to dispel perceptions that prison was a comfortable place to live in.

Petersen, who said the department was in the process of reviewing its policy on prisoner privileges, warned MPs about the dangers of withdrawing all inmates' privileges.

He said some of the privileges played a crucial role in the rehabilitation process of a prisoner.

"Some of these privileges are central to our rehabilitation programmes. The primary purpose of this tool should not be lost sight of," he said.

Reducing the standard of incarceration to the lowest level would not assist in ensuring that prisoners were rehabilitated.

It was important for prisoners to have access to newspapers, radio and television to prevent a situation where they would be completely cut off from society, thereby making it impossible for them to be reintegrated back to society upon their release.

While some prisoners had previously abused their privileges, a blanket removal of inmates' privileges would not achieve any meaningful objectives.

"It will be a pity if we were to design policy on the basis of exceptions," he said.

Petersen said the decision to ban television viewing in single cells was because it was difficult for prison officials to monitor programmes which a inmate incarcerated in a single cell could access.

- SAPA