Emthonjeni Juvenile Centre Youth Day 2018 Engagement
Education is an avenue towards recovering and protecting the dignity of juveniles in a correctional facility as well as a viable tool for rehabilitation which offers many juveniles hope for a better future.
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) mandate aligns itself to the dignity of all inmates and believes that providing opportunities for quality education within a correctional environment goes a long way to help restore the dignity of inmates and assists all to become future contributors of our society.
According to the Correctional Services Act no.111 of 1998 (CSA) a child is defined as a person under the age of 18. Section 19 (1) (a) of the act stipulates that every inmate who is a child and is subject to compulsory education must attend and have access to such education programs. In addition to this, they must also have access to adequate social work services, religious care, recreational programmes, and psychological services.
As on 31 March 2018, DCS recorded 110 remand detention (RD) children/juveniles, which constitutes 0.24% of the RD population. The regions with the highest number of RD juveniles were Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, and Northern Cape. The regions with the lowest number of RD juveniles were Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Western Cape.
Furthermore, the sentenced juvenile population consisted of 125 (males) and 1 female younger than 18 years. There were 3239 (males) and 67 (females) between the ages of 18-20 and 111545 (males) and 2901 (females) older than 21 currently. In total sentenced juveniles constitute 2.80% of the national sentenced population. Emthonjeni has 316 juveniles between the ages of 18-21, four between the ages of 13-16 and 12 between the ages of 22-25 years old.
Since the inception of formal education in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) in 2007, with one school and 21 enrolled inmates, the Department currently has 14 schools and has for the past consecutive three years surpassed the national average matric pass rate of 70%. DCS recorded a matric pass rate of 76.7% in the 2017 academic year, which was an improvement of 4.6% from the 2016 academic year.
With this in mind, JICS and DCS collaborated to provide an opportunity for juveniles at the Emthonjeni Juvenile Centre, at the Baviaanspoort Correctional Centre, to interact with various organisations and scholars from numerous schools in the area, at an event today to share experiences and create awareness amongst our youth. The juveniles used the opportunity to debunk several of the myths of prison life and create awareness by encouraging the youth of South Africa to focus on getting an education and to avoid becoming involved in criminal activities.
JICS believes that when society invests in the future of our youth, we are helping to restore the pride and dignity of all, which will help to motivate offenders to become law-abiding and productive citizens. Inmates need to be re-integrated back into the community so that they can contribute to the good of all. The youth, our nation’s future, are especially important in that regard. They are at an age when they are most likely to respond positively to efforts aimed at mending their young lives and preparing them to be worthy and valuable citizens.
The Inspecting Judge, Justice Johann van der Westhuizen said that “this provides an opportunity for growth and development and opens the doors to facilitate the journey of healing. In an attempt to transform the correctional system and the treatment of offenders, both as part of the creation of a democratic society and in order to reduce crime, an endeavour must be made by society to embrace them back into communities and assist them to reintegrate in a meaningful way. We all have a part to play in society, and it must start with us, or future generations to come will all end up here, with nothing to look forward to or hope for.”
Media enquiries:
Ema Cupido
Cell: 082 302 9557
E-mail: ema.cupido@dcs.gov.za
