The End of Public/Private Partnership Prisons in the Department of Correctional Services of South Africa

• Published date: 01 June 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855241240147
• Author: Lukas Muntingh
• Date: 01 June 2024

The End of Public/

Private Partnership

Prisons in the

Department of

Correctional Services of

South Africa

Lukas Muntingh

1

Abstract

South Africa has two fully privatised prisons, each housing some 3,000 pris-

oners. Their history has been mired in controversy from the start, and this

has not improved over a period of nearly 25 years. Recent events affecting

the security and integrity of the two facilities provide a useful opportunity

to ref‌lect on these private prisons as well as wider issues regarding private

sector involvement in the prison system. The intersection of politics, orga-

nised labour, private sector interests, and corruption have in all likelihood

rung the death knell for private prisons in South Africa.

Keywords

South Africa, private prisons, prison system history

Introduction

Private sector engagement in the prison system is regarded by many with sus-

picion, if not outright rejection. It is also the case that such strong opinions are

often based on limited information. The proponents of private sector

1

University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

Corresponding Author:

Lukas Muntingh, Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance, and Human Rights,

University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa.

Email: lmuntingh@uwc.ac.za

Article

The Prison Journal

2024, Vol. 104(3) 390–406

© 2024 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855241240147

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involvement are also often selective about what they share with the public and

other stakeholders. The opponents’position is frequently based more on a

‘gut-feel’than actual facts.

In South Africa, there are two fully privately operated prisons, each

accommodating some 3,000 prisoners. The f‌irst is Mangaung Correctional

Centre and operated by the UK-based f‌irm, G4S, and the second is

Kutama-Sinthumule Correctional Centre, operated by the US-based company

GEO Group. In this article, the net will be cast a little wider and not only

focus on Public Private Partnership (PPP) prisons but also examine general

private sector involvement in the prison system. To this end, several issues

will be explored. First, it is important to review the ideological issues related

to private sector participation. Second, a closer investigation will review the

nature of private sector interests in the prison system and the impact, or lack

of thereof, on theexisting twoPPP prisons. Third, an overview of thelegal frame-

work is presented to delineate the powers of the Department of Correctional

Services (DCS) versus that of the operator of a PPP prison. Fourth, an overview

is provided of the impact of private sector engagement in theprison system.Last,

and based on the preceding, some lessons learned about private sector involve-

ment, and particularly from the two existing PPP prisons, are extracted. The

article does not assume a ‘for or against’position on private sector participation.

Rather,it raises issues that needto be addressedwithin the givenreality of private

sector involvement in the prison system.

As background, it should be noted that at present South Africa’s prisons

are under one national department, the DCS, which falls under the Minister

of Justice and Correctional Services. From 1991 until May, 2014, there was

a Minister of Correctional Services in cabinet, but thereafter, the portfolio

was absorbed into Justice and Correctional Services. With reference to

Parliamentary oversight, the DCS and Minister are accountable to the

National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services. After

May, 2014, the correctional services portfolio was merged with the justice

portfolio to become the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional

Services. The Correctional Services Act of 1998 is the principal legislation

governing the prison system, and the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional

Services (JICS) is mandated to inspect prisons and report on the treatment

of inmates. It is headed by a judge of the High Court, or higher, and is

staffed by dedicated inspectors as well as lay visitors.

Ideological, Budgetary and Policy Concerns

The debate about private sector engagement in prison systems is by and large

delineated by opposite ideological positions. The opponents to private sector

Muntingh 391