Media Watch
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Faithfully waiting for their jailed men’s return
Can a marriage survive a lengthy prison sentence? What keeps a wife faithful to a husband who is doing time in prison?
Two women - who asked to remain anonymous because they have underage children - share their stories with Sowetan on why they are patiently waiting for their men to return home.
Drugs, shock and torture by ‘Ninjas’
Forced medication with heavy antipsychotic drugs is not the only way the Mangaung Correctional Centre is allegedly managing its unruly prison population and the odd warder, according to 70 sources the Wits Justice Project spoke to.
The 2010 high-level department of correctional services report, which was sent to the then minister of correctional services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, compares the prison with Guantanamo Bay - drawing particular attention to "the brutality of EST [Emergency Security Team]. According to the report, "every inmate to the single cell is escourted by the EST and along the way is being shocked".
Nursing Zim prisons back to health
When I meet Douglas Muzanenhamo on the sunny residential street he lives on in Zimbabwe, I immediately like him. He's tall and thin and warm, with a big smile and a firm handshake. Muzanenhamo leads me into the small room he sues as his office-cum-kitchen-cum-living room - his family rents two rooms at the back of a long, shared house - and before I even have the chance to sit down, he says: "Okay, let's talk."
Muzanenhamo is a man on a mission - or many. Generally, he strives to be an active citizen in an otherwise largely repressed environment. But his focus of the day is to better Zimbabwean prison conditions for everyone, particularly for people living with HIV.
Media coverage lacks context
Recent media coverage highlights the necessity of contextualising important societal issues.
Last week, articles in The Times and the Daily Sun, while written on pertinent topics, failed to provide relevant context to help readers gain a thorough understanding of the issues at hand.
A front-page story in The Times (18 July 2013) neglected to bring HIV into the debate while reporting on comments made by a judge condoning, and to a certain extent encouraging, rape among prisoners.
Sexual assault in jail is common and brutal
In October last year, McIntosh Polela, who was then the spokesperson for the Hawks, infamously tweeted about convicted murderer Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye: "I trust that Jub Jub's supporters gave him a jar of Vaseline to take to prison."Media reminds us that TB takes no prisoners
Thorough and novel coverage of TB in prisons proves that health issues can remain relevant and interesting. All it takes is a good angle or an expert willing to share.
It is a familiar pattern for everyone tracking health news: in March TB coverage peaks, in December it’s HIV and in February condoms.
On commemorative days (like World TB Day on 24 March) issues get media attention that otherwise may not have been considered news. It is an ebb and flow that many skilled commentators exploit to ensure that the truly salient health issues are given due recognition, albeit only occasionally.
Preventing prison TB is put first
The fight against TB has been taken to South Africa's prisons! Because of the result of a Constitutional Court caseTB pressure for prisons
Prison authorities will be under considerable pressure to implement proper TB controls in prisons following the recent Constitutional Court ruling, said Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) yesterday.Ex-con wins in ConCourt
The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that the Minister of Correctional Services can be sued for dereliction of duty after a former inmate contracted TB while incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison.TB in prisons in the public eye
This week The New Age drew attention to the lack of TB prevention measures in South Africa’s prisons through its coverage of Dudley Lee’s court case.
Although the main aim of the article was to report on the case itself, it has undoubtedly dragged the Department of Correctional Services’ failure to provide adequate health care to prisoners into public view.
According to the article, human rights violations and shocking conditions run on unchecked in South Africa’s prisons because they are institutions on the fringes of society.
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