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Prison sex 'not a right'
30/03/2005 15:09 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The right to have sex was not a right that prisoners should expect to retain, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Wednesday.
"There are some basic things that any human being needs to get, but you definitely forfeit some rights if you are arrested," he told journalists at a media briefing north of Johannesburg.
He was speaking of a proposal by the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIP), that consensual sex between inmates in prisons be condoned by the authorities.
A report by JIP manager, advocate Kamraj Anirudhra, said sexual deprivation, while not degrading in itself, led to frustration, and predisposed human beings to behavioural or emotional problems. It would therefore be counterproductive to prohibit it in prison.
Balfour said he had yet to read the JIP report and consider the matter, but hinted that he was not likely to agree with the proposal.
"We must think of the impact on the department. It will have a lot of implications," he said, but he would not be specific about what these might be.
There are no written rules on the matter at present, but sexual acts - whether homosexual, heterosexual, consensual or not - are prohibited in prisons.
In a recent case two men discovered having sex were punished by the removal of certain privileges.
In terms of rape in prisons, and the risk of contracting HIV, Balfour said the department was taking steps to make sure that prisons were safe places for inmates.
The department had been given money to invest in cameras and closed circuit television so as to monitor activities between prisoners more closely, he said.
"Prisoners live in communal cells. What happens there at night I don't know," he said.
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