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For some time, public health workers and criminologists have expressed concern that incarceration creates serious public health issues.
Photo supplied

South Africa’s stigma against ex-offenders fuels recidivism

Our country has a recidivism rate of about 90% compared to 6% to 8% for China, an authoritarian regime where mass executions of re-offenders is common

The escape of a convicted criminal of Bester’s profile should serve as a wake-up call, urging us to address systemic weaknesses and demand accountability from those responsible for maintaining the safety and well-being of our communities.
(Frikkie Kapp/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Bester case: court grants bail to suspended prison officer

Two other accused will return to court on 11 July for formal bail applications

Thabo Bester escaped from his prison cell — by faking his death in the form of a mysterious burnt corpse specially brought in for the purpose. Photo: Supplied

Thabo Bester’s escape shows how privatising harms crime control

We should question the issue of prison outsourcing when the motive is profit and not public safety

Guebuza junior was found to have received $33 million to “move influence” with his father, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He intends to appeal. There is no word yet on whether his father will also be charged. Photo: Supplied

Son of former Mozambique president sentenced to 12 years in prison

No Credit Suisse executives have faced criminal prosecution, despite the company admitting liability

For some time, public health workers and criminologists have expressed concern that incarceration creates serious public health issues.
Photo supplied

Prisons have R385 a day to care for prisoners

How many law-abiding citizens reliant on state grants might be better off in prison rather than trying to feed and fend for themselves on less than $1.25 a day, or R624 a month?…

They should be in hospitals but because of system failures they languish in jails. Mothers tell of their suffering (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP)

Neglected and abused, state patients endure prison ‘nightmare’

They should be in hospitals but because of system failures they languish in jails. Mothers tell of their suffering

People languish behind bars for years in countries like eSwatini and Malawi before their cases come to court.

A new lease of life for Zimbabwe’s HIV-positive prisoners

Peer support has been pivotal to inmates taking responsibility for their health

In Eritrea, certain topics are known to be out of bounds for journalists. (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)

Seventy-five African journalists imprisoned for doing their jobs

Across Africa, 12 countries were keeping at least 75 journalists behind bars as of 1 December ― not counting those who were detained and released

Unequal justice: Carl Niehaus of the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association warned of ‘civil unrest’ if Jacob Zuma is arrested. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)

Why the Big Fish escape the justice net

The small fish get caught. Jails are used to control the poor and disorderly and deflect attention from the crimes of the rich and powerful.

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela says intelligence agency opened documents couriered to her by the department of international relations. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Sunday Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Peacemaking criminology as ubuntu: A reply to Thuli Madonsela

If the rich and powerful are afforded amnesty, then so too must the poor who are often pushed into lives of crime

An image from Mzwandile Masina’s tweet advocating for the release of Andile Lungisa.

Convict Andile Lungisa resists calls to quit city council

Former youth league leader Andile Lungisa cites ANC constitution, and argues assault is not corruption in a bid to keep his party membership

Own goal: The spread of Covid-19 in the Eastern Cape has been exacerbated because a number of people are disobeying the lockdown regulations. (Delwyn Verasamy)

Behind the Covid-19 spiral in the Eastern Cape

‘Port St Johns and Port Elizabeth funerals are the cause of rising numbers,’ says the department of health

Portrait of Malcolm X (Still from Who Killed Malcolm X)
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Too little too late for Malcolm

Doccie Who Killed Malcolm X? has led to a belated reopening of his murder investigation

According to Sanja Bornman, an attorney for Lawyers for Human Rights, many trans people are in prisons that do not match their gender identity, in South Africa and globally. (John McCann/M&G)

Cruel warders target trans inmates

A trans woman held in a male prison says she is being harrassed by staff and authorities won’t take her case seriously

In October this year, Amnesty International published a report which exposes the range of human rights violations that occur. (Richard Burton/Amnesty International)
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Six women show up Madagascar’s infamous justice system

Poor Madagascans are left to rot in prison awaiting trial very often for crimes that they never committed

Pain: Gershwin Coutts shows bruises sustained from beatings he claims were inflicted by guards at Mangaung prison in Bloemfontein in 2013.

Prison company stalls court actions

G4S has belatedly sought to prevent the release of medical records of inmates who say they were tortured

Transgender rights: Vital case heads to Equality Court

Transgender rights: Vital case heads to Equality Court

​The Equality Court in Cape Town will soon hear a groundbreaking case on the rights of transgender prisoners

At a previous sitting

Jail time for Vicki Momberg sets new precedent

Past cases indicate that verbal crimen injuria is not that serious. But a landmark sentence in South Africa has changed that

Turf war: Relatives wait for information after prisoners were killed inside a jail in Amazonas

Life behind bars: An inspecting judge of prisons unlocks inmates’ stories

South Africa’s jails have one of the lowest percentages of women prisoners in the world – but among the highest number of men

The Glencoe prison on fire in KwaZulu-Natal.

Fire-damaged KZN prison up and running again despite not being fixed

Glencoe wardens are fearing prisoner escapes after the department demanded that they return to duty despite the jail’s near-derelict state