Deputy Minister Makwetla praises Tswelopele as a Model Correctional Centre
Justice and Correctional Services Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla describes Tswelopele Correctional Center in Kimberly as a model for South Africa.
The Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr Thabang Makwetla, says he can speak with confidence that the transformation of prisons into human rights based correctional centres is on course in South Africa. The beaming Deputy Minister Makwetla said this at the end of the third leg of his regional roadshow and after visiting Tswelopele Correctional Centre in Kimberly today.
Deputy Minister Makwetla was briefed today on Tswelopele Correctional Centre as a new generation prison built to be a model for effective rollout of the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa. He inspected the facility's infrastructure, visited the cente's textile factory, a library, a school, a computer centre and a state of the art control room where inmate movements in communal areas and even illegal use of cellphones can be detected and stopped. The management of Tswelopele Correctional Centre reassured the Deputy Minister that any active cellphone inside the facility can be immediately detected and removed.
Deputy Minister Makwetla urged officials to appreciate the modern infrastructure provided by government, strength their imaginations and push the boundaries to help set new trends in rehabilitation.
All 2 300 offenders in the facility are grouped and are going through some form of rehabilitation or behavior modification programme. He said the centre compares favorably to the privately built and run Public Private Partnership correctional centers in all respects.
Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla began his regional roadshow by visiting Pollsmoor Correctional Centre on Tuesday this week, followed by St Albans Correctional Centre yesterday and by Tswelopele Correctional Centre in Kimberly today - 9 October 2014. On Monday 13 October 2014, Deputy Minister Makwetla will visit Grootvlei Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, followed by East London female Correctional Centre in the Eastern Cape and Kutama Sentumule Correctional Centre in Limpopo on 24 October 2014.
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