The inadequate conditions of imprisonment in South African correctional facilities are well known. Health care, sanitation, food provision, access to education and reading materials, and in particular, the overcrowding, of female prisons are considerable challenges faced by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) regarding the incarceration of female prisoners[i]. A retrospective view of the conditions under which female inmates in South African correctional facilities are incarcerated is examined in this paper. Findings indicate that prison conditions in some South African female correctional facilities are poor: health care and sanitation facilities are largely inadequate, the quality of food is poor, little or no reading materials are made available, and recreational facilities are largely absent. These conditions impact negatively on the female prisoners during, and sometimes, after their incarceration.
This article reports on a study which examined the experiences of women in South Africa after imprisonment. Using in-depth interviews, the experiences of 13 women ex-prisoners who were imprisoned in South African prisons were examined. It emerged that some of the participants of the study experienced unemployment, stigma and discrimination, as well as the psychological effect of imprisonment after incarceration. The psychological effect of imprisonment that some of the participants reported was reflected in the inability of this category of women to make friends and in their display of some of the habits that they learned in prison, such as staying in the dark even though they had no reason to after incarceration. It was revealed that unemployment increased significantly among the participants, and some of the participants were victims of stigma and discrimination from their families, in particular, and society, in general. The feminist pathways approach was used to explain the participants' criminal offending and how some of their experiences after imprisonment may have resulted in recidivism. Further, female-headed households was identified as a pathway unique to the offending behaviour of South African women.
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