Volume: Volume 10(1) - 2006

Article type: Refereed article

Author/s: Tapscott, Chris

Chris Tapscott discusses the successes and failures of the prison system in South Africa by investigating the governance of a number of prisons around the country. The article starts by looking at the challenges faced by prisons across the world, such as overcrowding, understaffing, the character of the penal system and human rights.

Chris Tapscott discusses the successes and failures of the prison system in South Africa by investigating the governance of a number of prisons around the country. The article starts by looking at the challenges faced by prisons across the world, such as overcrowding, understaffing, the character of the penal system and human rights. The findings show that, although [here are instances of good governance, government needs to give urgent attention to human resources management and overcrowding. Insofar as privately-run prisons are concerned, South Afnca's brief experience with this controversial model has been relatively positive, specifically wirh reference to human resources management, security of staff, prisoner-staff ratios and programmes for the rehabilitalion of prisoners.

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