South African Custodial Services thanks the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Mr Mashimbye, for inviting all South Africans and stakeholders to participate and contribute to the draft White Paper of the Department of Correctional Services. This is operationalising democracy and in the true spirit of Batho Pele.

The Department should also be congratulated with an excellent document that encapsulates their vision to transform the Correctional System.

South African Custodial Services, managing the world’s largest contractual prison on behalf of the Department, is excited about the strategic objectives and policy statements and as a role player would want to participate in the implementation thereof. The services provided by South African Custodial Services are intended to set a benchmark for the Correctional System nationally and to enable the Department of Correctional Services to tap in on the quality of these services. This is done in the true spirit of partnership and South African Custodial Services could only have been successful with the excellent direction and leadership from the Department of Correctional Services and the standards they have set for us to comply with.

The comments on the draft White Paper focus on maximizing the benefits to Government and introduce South African Custodial Services and Kensani Corrections as its empowerment partner to all other role players and stakeholders.

The comments are offered to contribute to the debate and are not conclusive, but will be more focused as the debate on the transformation of the Correctional System unfolds.

The Correctional Systems across the world are in a crisis and many first and third world countries grapple with the issues to manage and control the system that haunts the very fibre of these societies. Some of the countries prefer to ignore the problem and relegate it to the lower end of their priority list while other countries try to focus their energies on these problems – some succeed and others just give up hope. It is a well documented fact that the morale fibre and the development of a society is measured by the way that society deals with those people who can least fend for themselves. This place the incarceration and humane detention of prisoners at the centre stage.

There are a number of universal problems that confront all Correctional Systems worldwide and South Africa is no exception. These are:

• The overpopulation of prisons.
• Lack of suitable facilities to ensure the humane care of prisoners and through this ensure the safety of society.
• Lack of rehabilitative and developmental strategies for prisoners to positively re-integrate back into society.
• The incapacity to mobilize society to recognize their co-responsibility to participate in the re-integration process.
• The lack of properly trained staff to meet the goals and strategic objectives of the Correctional System.
• Budgetary constraints.

It is imperative that our Correctional System recognize these challenges and as a minimum address the key issues it is confronted with.

The White Paper of the Department of Correctional Services is an excellent document that paves the way for the transformation of the Correctional System and in all likelihood would meet its intended objectives. It is also evident that there is a clear vision as to the direction the Department is taking and they should be congratulated on the efforts made to transform the system. We are specifically optimistic with the emphasis placed on the rehabilitation of prisoners and the equipping of staff to meet these goals. The involvement of the broader society to take up co-responsibility in the rehabilitation of prisoners is commendable as well as the recognition of all other stakeholders that can contribute to enable the Department to meet its objectives.

It should be noted though that these objectives and goals can only be met if they are aligned to the budget of the Department as well as a clear indication as to how the budget will be operationalised. The costing of the goals in the White Paper is imperative as this will indicate whether the budget in the medium term expenditure framework will be sufficient to carry out these goals and objectives, and if not, how it will be staggered in this framework. It should be recognized that some of these objectives cannot be operationalised without urgent attention to infra structure. This has a time and budgetary implication that should be thoroughly considered. The budget and objectives should closely focus on timelines or it would become a "nice to have" document that will and can never be implemented.

It is furthermore of importance that the strategic objectives as well as the policy statements in the white paper should inform the budget and not the other way round.

It should be recognized that South Africa is a developing country and should therefore strife to meet the most primary needs of the system, and in this respect the humane care of prisoners and the safety of society comes to mind.

Our prison system is grossly overpopulated and while the Correctional System has a capacity for 110 000 prisoners it is 50% overpopulated and suffers under huge budgetary constraints. The infra structures of the prisons are in many instances in a bad shape and need urgent and immediate attention. The lack of corporate governance and effective management of some of the prisons, as pointed out by the Jali Commission, underscore the difficult task to be addressed by the strategic objectives and the goals in the White Paper.

The White Paper also reflects on the fact that the staff is not properly equipped for the task at hand and it is quite clear that the training of staff needs urgent attention. Though the strategic objectives and policy statements are well intended and underscores a focused approach, the intentions should be seen within the current context. This calls for a holistic approach where the Department should be able to tap into the resources available in society who have the capacity and the competencies to support the Department to operationalise the policy statements and to minimize their budgetary expenses while meeting the objectives.

It should be noted that the Minister of Finance has continuously urged Government departments to engage the private sector to enable them to support and deliver the types and quality services required by the public. These services could be provided by the private sector at a very low cost if the services are specified correctly within the Department’s budgetary constraints. This will enable the Department of Correctional Services to focus on its core business and spend the budget on those services it is required to deliver by legislation while leaving the non-core business to the private sector.

The over population of the Correctional system is a case in point where this situation poses a great threat on the successful implementation of the strategic objectives and the stated goals in the White Paper.

This creates management problems for the Department and a security risk for society and it is impossible for the Department to meet its noble objectives and goals under these circumstances.

The implementation of electronic monitoring as a mechanism to manage the ±50% over population is an economically viable option for the Department to consider. (This has been highlighted by the Inspecting Judge on numerous occasions).

The involvement of role players and stake holders to implement and manage the system on behalf of the Department, will further lift the burden on the Department in terms of its infrastructure and budgetary constraints.

It is roughly estimated that it will cost the Department ±R30 per prisoner per day under electronic monitoring while the per capita cost for prisoners in incarceration is ±R110 per day. This will lead to a saving for the taxpayer of ±R80 per prisoner per day or R4 million per day, capital that could be well spent to effectively implement the strategic objectives and goals of the White Paper.

There are private operators who have the capacity and the competency to manage this system effectively as demonstrated worldwide. It would be a fruitless exercise for the Department to do it alone while the expertise is available in the marketplace to be utilized to ease the burden.

Strategic objectives and goals could only be served and effectively implemented if linked to specific timelines and monitored by an oversight body. This will keep the document alive and enhance accountability to Government.

The comments are intended to contribute to an excellent document and a desire to see it implemented effectively and the people of South Africa enjoy the fruit thereof.

I now introduce South African Custodial Services as a role player in the field of corrections.

The WCC (now GEO Group Inc) was invited by the South African government in 1997 to participate in an initial outsourcing project for the design, finance, construction and management of 11 new PFI prisons for the Department of Correctional Services. Following a meeting with the then Director General of Public Works, Mr. Sipho Shezi, the GEO Group Inc agreed to compete in a competitive process, in what was thought to be an exciting new initiative designed to transfer international best practice in corrections management to the new South Africa.

To compete, the GEO Group Inc committed itself to substantial up-front development costs, bid costs and investment costs in pursuing the initiative and in establishing a new South African subsidiary (SACS) with a 50% black female empowerment partner, Kensani Corrections.

In 1997 contracting out was a relatively new concept in South Africa and not unreasonably in the circumstances it resulted in the Department taking over three years to reach the point of contract signing. By this time, however, despite major overcrowding in the prison system, the initial market opportunity of 11 PFI prisons was reduced by government, firstly to four facilities and then finally to two.

SACS, our joint venture company created to pursue the opportunity, was successful in the bid process, being awarded the Kutama Sinthumule Maximum Security Prison contract at Makhado, in the Limpopo Province.

The prison, the largest privately operated correctional centre in the world, was designed, financed and constructed by SACS in a record time of 18 months. It was constructed at a cost of R303 million and caters for 3 024 prisoners at a current operating cost to government of R102,85 per day.

The prison is managed and operated by 530 South Africans, with over 90% coming from the previously disadvantaged community. The prison spends 50% of its total income (R60 million per annum) in Makhado. These factors aside, the facility is involved in many community projects and has been accepted as one of the community institutions. It is frequently visited by community leaders and local Chiefs.

In the very short time of 41 months the prison has achieved:

• A Five (5) star award for health and safety – first for the Limpopo Province.
• A silver certificate at the Makhado annual show in the first year of the prison’s participation.
• ISO 9001: 2000 certification – the first for a prison on the continent of Africa.

During November 2001, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee requested a task team to be established to investigate the affordability, value for money and transfer of risk to private prisons. This Committee reported to Parliament that SACS had demonstrated through its operations its capacity and competency to meet the following government objectives:

• Foreign investment
• Empowerment
• Job creation
• Socio-economic development
• Benchmarking and skills development

The Committee’s report to Parliament also records that:

• Construction costs were competitive
• Construction was completed on time and on budget
• The project represented fast track delivery (less than two years from contract signing to full operation)
• Operating costs comparable to overcrowded public prisons, but with higher levels of service and better quality facilities
• Significant black equity and sub-contracting
• Appropriate allocation of financial, technical and operational risk to the private parties

On 28 August 2003 the prison was visited by the Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Mr J J Fagan. In a letter following the visit, he wrote ‘I can assure you that Gideon Morris and I are singularly impressed at the very high standards that you are achieving at Kutama Sinthumule. It really is the model prison that we must strive to emulate in our 242 DCS prisons. There is so much that can be learnt from the manner in which the prison is being managed’. These are not words uttered by Judge Fagan alone, for similar have been made by all who have visited the prison.

South African Custodial Services comes with a proven track record of providing correctional services to Governments worldwide and can thus draw on international best practices to provide to the South African Correctional System. The ISO 9001: 2000 certificate, a first on the continent of Africa, bears testimony to this.

We wish the Department of Correctional Services all the best with the implementation of the goals and objectives in the White Paper.

Stephen Korabie

Contractor’s Representative