The Department of Correctional Services is a department of the

South African government The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa. Executive authori ...

. It is responsible for running South Africa's

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

system. The department has about 34,000 staff and is responsible for the administration of 240 prisons, which accommodates about 189,748 inmates. The prisons include minimum, medium and maximum security facilities. The agency is headquartered in the West Block of the Poyntons Building in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. The political head of the department is the

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services is the justice minister in the government of South Africa. He is the political head of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD), the Department of Correctional Services (DC ...

, who is supported by a Deputy Minister of Correctional Services. the minister is

Ronald Lamola Ronald Ozzy Lamola (born 21 November 1983) is a South African lawyer and politician, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He has also been serving as a Member of the National Assemb ...

and the deputy minister is Patekile Holomisa. In the 2020 budget, R26,800.0 million was appropriated for the department. In the 2018/19 financial year the department had 38,459 employees.

Correctional centres

The 178 prisons run by the department include: * 9 women-only prisons * 13 prisons for young offenders * 40 prisons for male offenders * 72 prisons for both male and female offenders * 5 prisons that are temporarily closed down or undergoing renovations

Notable prisons

Pollsmoor Prison Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous c ...

in the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

is the largest maximum security prison and houses inmates serving life or long term sentences. * C Max in

is also a maximum security prison which houses inmates serving long sentences and those that are considered flight risks. * The former

Pretoria Central Prison Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane ...

now known as Kgosi

Mampuru II Mampuru II (1824 – 22 November 1883) was a king of the Pedi people in southern Africa. Mampuru was a son of the elder brother of Sekwati and claimed he had been designated as his successor. Sekwati died in 1861 and his son, Sekhukhune claimed ...

(who was hanged at the prison on 22 November 1883 for public violence and revolt, as well as the murder of rival leader Sekhukhune), was the official site for

capital punishment in South Africa Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995 by the ruling of the Constitutional Court in the case of ''S v Makwanyane'', following a five-year and four-month moratorium since February 1990. History The standard method for ca ...

before the end of apartheid, frequently meted out against opponents of the apartheid regime. Capital punishment was abolished in 1995 (see

Capital punishment in South Africa Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995 by the ruling of the Constitutional Court in the case of ''S v Makwanyane'', following a five-year and four-month moratorium since February 1990. History The standard method for ca ...

) *

Drakenstein Correctional Centre Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verster Prison) is a low-security prison between Paarl and Franschhoek, on the R301 road 5 km from the R45 Huguenot Road, in the valley of the Dwars River in the Western Cape of South Africa. ...

, the prison from which Nelson Mandela was released after being imprisoned for opposing

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

Branches

* Finance * Development and Care * Corrections * Central Services * Corporate Services * Operations & Management Support * Departmental Investigation Unit (DIU) * Community Corrections

References

External links

Correctional Services

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Prison and correctional agencies South Africa, Correctional Services Penal system in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-gov-stub