“Prisons are the universities of crime and if you deal with the prison system and get it right and stop it from being a hub of criminal activity, it will serve in dealing with crime on the outside of jails.”
In capturing the enormity of managing a prison system, Judge Jali declares, “prisons are the universities of crime.” A university is (according to the oxford dictionary of English) an educational institution designed for instruction, examination, or both, of students in many branches of advanced learning. Does definition of a university qualifies, in Jali’s context, South African prisons to be classified as such? in rhetoric manner the answer is a resounding yes.
The design of a university for instruction in the many branches of advanced learning presupposes the existence and/or concentration of knowledge in such institutions. Knowledge like any other matter, has as a characteristic, an ability to move from a higher concentration to a lower concentration until a particular state of equilibrium is reached. This is referred to as diffusion in scientific terms. The assumed knowledge concentrate in universities is however not immune to the diffusion law and therefore subject to change over time. This is often classified in pedagogical circles as acculturation and subject matter enrichment.
The interesting feature of a university is that there are those who will or must learn from others. The challenge has always been who learns from whom and under what conditions and circumstances. The desirability of having university students to be resident in these institutions has always been seen as a student reinforcement mechanism. The reinforcement occurs when students retire to their residences whereat they share “experiences” and teach each other “tricks” of the “student system.” Concomitantly those who are in charge of “student residences” become experts in the learning process since they have a longer time span and exposure to varying types of “students”. In these circumstances each one is bound to teach one and learn from one.
It is however the concentrated “content” that moves from high to low concentrations. The degree to which knowledge is concentrated can also serve as a buffer for dilutants to establish an equilibrium. This explains why in other environments certain of minorities remain culturally dominant irrespective of the size and number of the dominated. The concentration of “traditions and customs accompanied by resourced maintenance mechanisms; keep these cultural concentrates intact and difficult to dilute.” Criminality as a custom cannot escape this.
The problems of the department of correctional services should also be sees against this scientific backdrop. The recruitment of prison warders has always been on the basis of hiring guards as apposed to “correctional officers.” The minimum requirement for admission has up until recently varied from Grade 10 (std 8) to Grade 12 (Std 10) with 18 to 35 years as an access control age band. These persons are subjected to a training programme that generically takes them through the register, lock-up and watch processes of prisoner administration. Little to no attention is paid on the intellectual prowess of the “guard” vis-Ã -vis the guarded.
The type of correctional officer assigned to a prisoner and/or prisoners has not received attention, to an extent that warders with relatively low “life experience” (a term used in the recent advert for correctional officers) become assigned to your more life experienced prisoners. The “knowledge concentrates” of the guard and guarded become, in this instance, a matter of concern. The scientific truths of diffusion dictate therefore to the South African correctional system a reality of two forms of concentrates. The criminality concentrate and a probable correction concentrate” become therefore competitors for dominance within the crime university. In all instances the constant in terms of residence is always the prison warder and therefore subject to criminality innovations as inserted by new convicts and the general societal experience.
The fact that the prison warder is a constant in the correctional process assumes that such a person is prepared to withstand the pressures of diffusion outcomes. The recourse for Prison warders has always been the society the return to, in this case the South African society. Society will in this instance also be dependent on issues such as the satisfactory levels of prison warders in terms of conditions of service and social status. If society has skewed norms and standards (as manifest in crime levels) the prison warder as a full-time student, of the crime University begins to emulate and role model some of the professors at the University. This is characteristic of any good student, particularly those that are shaping their social position and status.
The correctional officers who were involved in the Setlai video are criminals and should be punished for their deeds. There is however an obligation to us as a society to reflect on the exposure of those young men and women to advanced faculties of criminality. The technology of criminality has grown beyond the technology of correcting, particularly given the apartheid informed paradigm of correction still prevalent in the present correctional services department.
The transformation process that was once hailed in government cycles as a milestone did not pay attention to a number of realities about transitioning from a prison services department to that of correction. The essence of the transformation was the placement of block prison warders (mostly Popcru members), without due regard to their change orientation. The Imibono Data research report that was commissioned by the former Deputy Director General (human resources) remains an authoritative and scientific source about the type of person power the able Mti is exposed to. The bulk of the present leadership, particularly at the Area and prison management level require re-orientation. The present correctional system requires their “ervaring” (experience) in prison guarding but their “bewarder” culture should be destroyed.
Without sounding prescriptive, I would propose that instead of taking a blame default position. The South African society through the Correctional Services department should embark on a process of creating concentrates of correctional knowledge to counter criminality concentrates. The present explosion should be seen as a maturing thesis that needs an antithesis. The key elements of the antithetical intervention should include
• A revisitation of the training content for correctional officers becomes an imperative for way forward.
• A programme to increase the education levels of the present incumbents should be embarked upon.
• Recruitment of senior and middle management should be done through an independent recruitment agency.
• The classification of prisoners and the correctional officers in charge of them should be revised.
• The department needs to find a disciplinary code that replaces the erstwhile military code, whatever is existing does not work.
• The present management cadre must be subjected to a managerial proficiency test. The objective should be to remove dead wood and capacitate potential leaders.
Action around this issue will lend credence to Justice Jali’s view that “if you deal with the prison system and (want to) get it right and stop it from being a hub of criminal activity, it will serve in dealing with crime from outside of jails.” This will definitely ensure that South Africa is not disappointed.
In capturing the enormity of managing a prison system, Judge Jali declares, “prisons are the universities of crime.” A university is (according to the oxford dictionary of English) an educational institution designed for instruction, examination, or both, of students in many branches of advanced learning. Does definition of a university qualifies, in Jali’s context, South African prisons to be classified as such? in rhetoric manner the answer is a resounding yes.
The design of a university for instruction in the many branches of advanced learning presupposes the existence and/or concentration of knowledge in such institutions. Knowledge like any other matter, has as a characteristic, an ability to move from a higher concentration to a lower concentration until a particular state of equilibrium is reached. This is referred to as diffusion in scientific terms. The assumed knowledge concentrate in universities is however not immune to the diffusion law and therefore subject to change over time. This is often classified in pedagogical circles as acculturation and subject matter enrichment.
The interesting feature of a university is that there are those who will or must learn from others. The challenge has always been who learns from whom and under what conditions and circumstances. The desirability of having university students to be resident in these institutions has always been seen as a student reinforcement mechanism. The reinforcement occurs when students retire to their residences whereat they share “experiences” and teach each other “tricks” of the “student system.” Concomitantly those who are in charge of “student residences” become experts in the learning process since they have a longer time span and exposure to varying types of “students”. In these circumstances each one is bound to teach one and learn from one.
It is however the concentrated “content” that moves from high to low concentrations. The degree to which knowledge is concentrated can also serve as a buffer for dilutants to establish an equilibrium. This explains why in other environments certain of minorities remain culturally dominant irrespective of the size and number of the dominated. The concentration of “traditions and customs accompanied by resourced maintenance mechanisms; keep these cultural concentrates intact and difficult to dilute.” Criminality as a custom cannot escape this.
The problems of the department of correctional services should also be sees against this scientific backdrop. The recruitment of prison warders has always been on the basis of hiring guards as apposed to “correctional officers.” The minimum requirement for admission has up until recently varied from Grade 10 (std 8) to Grade 12 (Std 10) with 18 to 35 years as an access control age band. These persons are subjected to a training programme that generically takes them through the register, lock-up and watch processes of prisoner administration. Little to no attention is paid on the intellectual prowess of the “guard” vis-Ã -vis the guarded.
The type of correctional officer assigned to a prisoner and/or prisoners has not received attention, to an extent that warders with relatively low “life experience” (a term used in the recent advert for correctional officers) become assigned to your more life experienced prisoners. The “knowledge concentrates” of the guard and guarded become, in this instance, a matter of concern. The scientific truths of diffusion dictate therefore to the South African correctional system a reality of two forms of concentrates. The criminality concentrate and a probable correction concentrate” become therefore competitors for dominance within the crime university. In all instances the constant in terms of residence is always the prison warder and therefore subject to criminality innovations as inserted by new convicts and the general societal experience.
The fact that the prison warder is a constant in the correctional process assumes that such a person is prepared to withstand the pressures of diffusion outcomes. The recourse for Prison warders has always been the society the return to, in this case the South African society. Society will in this instance also be dependent on issues such as the satisfactory levels of prison warders in terms of conditions of service and social status. If society has skewed norms and standards (as manifest in crime levels) the prison warder as a full-time student, of the crime University begins to emulate and role model some of the professors at the University. This is characteristic of any good student, particularly those that are shaping their social position and status.
The correctional officers who were involved in the Setlai video are criminals and should be punished for their deeds. There is however an obligation to us as a society to reflect on the exposure of those young men and women to advanced faculties of criminality. The technology of criminality has grown beyond the technology of correcting, particularly given the apartheid informed paradigm of correction still prevalent in the present correctional services department.
The transformation process that was once hailed in government cycles as a milestone did not pay attention to a number of realities about transitioning from a prison services department to that of correction. The essence of the transformation was the placement of block prison warders (mostly Popcru members), without due regard to their change orientation. The Imibono Data research report that was commissioned by the former Deputy Director General (human resources) remains an authoritative and scientific source about the type of person power the able Mti is exposed to. The bulk of the present leadership, particularly at the Area and prison management level require re-orientation. The present correctional system requires their “ervaring” (experience) in prison guarding but their “bewarder” culture should be destroyed.
Without sounding prescriptive, I would propose that instead of taking a blame default position. The South African society through the Correctional Services department should embark on a process of creating concentrates of correctional knowledge to counter criminality concentrates. The present explosion should be seen as a maturing thesis that needs an antithesis. The key elements of the antithetical intervention should include
• A revisitation of the training content for correctional officers becomes an imperative for way forward.
• A programme to increase the education levels of the present incumbents should be embarked upon.
• Recruitment of senior and middle management should be done through an independent recruitment agency.
• The classification of prisoners and the correctional officers in charge of them should be revised.
• The department needs to find a disciplinary code that replaces the erstwhile military code, whatever is existing does not work.
• The present management cadre must be subjected to a managerial proficiency test. The objective should be to remove dead wood and capacitate potential leaders.
Action around this issue will lend credence to Justice Jali’s view that “if you deal with the prison system and (want to) get it right and stop it from being a hub of criminal activity, it will serve in dealing with crime from outside of jails.” This will definitely ensure that South Africa is not disappointed.
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