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The CSPRI has dismissed claims that prisoners are pampered
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March 19, 2008, 22:30
Claims that prisoners are afforded many privileges are misleading, dangerous and factually incorrect, the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI) said today.
The CSPRI is a project of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape, seeking to promote prison reforms and the rights of prisoners.
"The conditions under which prisoners are detained in South Africa leave much to be desired. In many regards they fall short of what is accepted as humane," the CSPRI said in a statement.
Rather, much needed to be done to meet the minimum standards of humane detention.
The CSPRI was responding to statements attributed to Pierre Snyman of the Public Servants Association, when he addressed Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services.
He told the committee on Monday that prisoners had "many, many" privileges, including "luxurious rooms".
No evidence
The Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, Dennis Bloem, said yesterday: "We are concerned about the privileges that these murderers are enjoying."
The CSPRI said: "There was no evidence to demonstrate that prisoners were detained in luxurious rooms.
"Prisoners must, as a constitutional requirement, be detained under conditions that are safe and promote human dignity."
It said offenders were sentenced to imprisonment as punishment, not for punishment.
"There is a need to review the current privilege system, but rather with a view to open it up, not to make it more repressive," the CSPRI said. - Sapa
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