The Department of Correctional Services said Ebongweni Maximum Correctional Centre 'is not about solitary confinement'.

GroundUp published an article titled 'Prisoners are being held for years in solitary confinement' on 6 September. The article dealt with a report by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (Jics) on solitary confinement. Here is a response from the spokesperson of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Singabakho Nxumalo.

The DCS response to the Jics report on solitary confinement was shared with Jics. It is unfortunate that Jics opted not to reflect on this response when finalising its report.

It is important to start by reflecting on the legislative framework:

Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act 111 of 1998):

Section 5 (1) provides that the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, establish and review the establishment of correctional centres and remand detention facilities for detention and treatment of inmates.Section 6 (b) despite the wording of the warrant relating to the place of detention, subject to the provisions of the Act, such warrant authorises the Commissioner to detain the person concerned to any prison.Section 29 makes provision for security classification to be determined by the extent to which the inmate presents a security risk and so as to determine the prison or part of the prison in which he...