What is Prison?
A prison, also known as a jail, jail, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, lock-up, hoosegow, or remand center, is a facility in which convicted criminals are confined involuntarily and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as punishment for various crimes.
How Many Maximum Prison In South Africa?
Pollsmoor Prison
It is officially known as the Pollsmoor Maximum Security prison, and it is situated in Tokai, Cape Town. It is a maximum security prison that holds some of the most dangerous criminals in South Africa. It was designed to hold 4,336 offenders and a staff strength of 1,278; however, it is currently overcrowded as it has over 7,000 inmates. The prison comprises five prisons, namely the Admission Center, Medium A Prison, Medium B Prison, Medium C Prison and the Female Prison. The activities of gangs riddle the prison, and it is speculated to be entirely run by gangs; however, the prison is still managed by the Department of Correctional Services in South Africa.
The Mangaung Prison
The Mangaung Prison is a privately managed prison by G4S as part of a consortium located in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. The Department of Correctional Services of South Africa signed a 25-year contract with the consortium in 2000. The prison was designed to hold 3,000 inmates, but the current number of inmates it currently has is unspecified.
Helderstroom Prison
The Helderstroom prison is a maximum security facility located 120 kilometres from Cape Town. Reports reveal that living conditions in prison are harsh, and most inmates commit suicide because of the brutality that they go through in the facility. Helderstroom prison is one of the prisons well known for violent attacks on both inmates and officers of the law. The prison is well-known for its violent initiation rites carried out by high-ranking inmates, and the tales of torture are not news at the facility.
Leeuwkop Prison
The Leeuwkop prison is a Maximum security prison located at Bryanston, 2191, South Africa. It is a special Maximum security prison for hardened criminals who are considered a threat to themselves and other inmates. In this prison, inmates are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, and guards use specialised equipment, such as electric shields, to move them around.
Kokstad Prison
Also known as eBongweni C-Max Prison, Kokstad prison is the highest maximum security in South Africa, located in Kwa Zulu Natal. The prison was designed to hold the most dangerous set of criminals that society cannot afford to have walking freely in the country. Wardens are positioned at every corner of this prison, along with ten electronically operated doors with CCTVs mounted on them. The prison also has steel doors that an individual must go through it holds to enter or exit the facility. With all of these security features, one would think that the facility is meant to keep terrorists.
What are maximum prisons in South Africa?
Remand centres are a necessary evil in every society, and to contain that, there must be a correctional centre to jail those who exhibit these crime traits. Which are the two super-maximum prisons in South Africa? These are C-Max in Pretoria and Ebongweni in Kokstad.
How many prisons are in South Africa?
240 prisons
The Department of Correctional Services is a department of the South African government. It is responsible for running South Africa’s prison system. The department has about 34,000 staff and is responsible for the administration of 240 prisons, which accommodates about 189,748 inmates.