STUDENT NO: 61802255

STUDENT NUMBER: 61802255

PEN3706
ASSIGNMENT NO: 02
UNIQUE NO: 701789
DUE DATE: 14 APRIL 2023

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 STUDENT NO: 61802255

Question 1
Factors that may influence development in Correctional Centres includes, prison
condition, procedural justice, food, medical care, overcrowding, violence, unemployment
and social environment.
• Prison conditions may influence offenders decision to engage in change initiatives.
Prison conditions are the environmental factors experienced by offenders inside
prison facilities. Those factors of influences can include their quality of living,
availability of resources and leisure time, security level, safety measures , violence,
peer groups ( Nilsson 2003). Offenders struggle to adapt to prison culture. This
struggle causes offenders to revert to their old criminal ways and even discourage
them from change readiness. The prison conditions are very harsh and
compounded by poor characteristic such as degrading clothing and bedding also
poor sanitation.

• Procedural justice
Procedural justice measures how fairness is perceived during decision-making
processes. Procedural justice effects offenders when their ability to plat an active
role in decisions that impact themselves is not considered, their values in the
process are deprived, respect towards them is minimal. This factor causes
offenders to look at any initiatives of the administration as illegitimate (Hough et al
2010).

• Food
There are many complaints about food. Prisoners receive food hat are in poor
quality or insufficient in quality. This is the condition that some offenders faced in
Correctional Centres, and that they often went hungry sometimes. Food served
spoiled and corruption in the kitchens, because of gang activity or with the
collaboration if the warders. Offender’s complaints that they only have two meal
per day, breakfast around 7 AM while last meal of the day is at 3:00 to 4: 00 PM,
while leaving them hungry for many hours. Criminal officers sometimes deny
offenders access to food and water as a form of punishment.

• Medical care
No medical qualified individuals were included to visits prison. Due to lack of
medical expertise, there are not quality health care available for offenders.
Offender’s complaints about the lack of good health care, these complaints
referred to cursoriness of medical examinations.

• Overcrowding
Overcrowding can have a significant negative impact in an offenders well-being
and mental health, because the Department of Correctional Services are unable
to provide the required rehabilitative support. When the weight of offender’s

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number overwhelms physical and human resources, correctional services delivery

is handicapped (O’Toole et al 2005:12). Overcrowding results in lowered sanitation
and hygiene standards, limited access to legal assistance, reduction in living and
increase of violence.

• Violence in correctional centres. Rape, beating and killings have become common
in many correctional centres whereby offenders kills one another (Birzer &
Roberson 2004:100).

• Unemployment
It is uncertain how reliable employment is when used as a measure for the
effectiveness of education. Released offenders generally have few educational
and occupational skills, thus minimising their chances of employment. What makes
matters worse is the stigma attached to incarceration and the effect this has on the
offenders personality. When the demand for unskilled labour is at its lowest, the
effect of basic vocational training will be hardly noticeable in terms of employment.
If Correctional Centres have facilities and staff only for the provision of basic
occupational training in traditional professions, the effect on employment and
behaviour on the part of the individual is likely to be rather more negative than
positive (Jonker 2020:17).

• Social environment
When person is released from Correctional Centres, he or she returns to a
particular social environment. If that environment is characterised by violence,
greed, irregular employment patters, unstable personal relations and a distrust of
written information or instruction, the newly educated former offender might well
be inclined to reject the values of education. On the other hand, such an individual
might attempt to introduce these new values into environment in order to bring
about change therein. Lastly, he or she might choose to leave that environment
and start over somewhere else without family and friends (Jonker 2020:16).

Question 2
Unit management is a technique for managing prisoners in groups. It forms the basis of
thorough, effective, and direct supervision, among other things, because the prison is
divided up into manageable units. Inmates are divided into manageable groups, which,
apart from effective supervision, also offer the opportunity for regular control between
staff and prisoners (Bruyns et al 2002:2). Unit management emphases decentralization
and delegated authority to a multi-disciplinary unit team to ensure that staff can also be
used more flexibly (Sawyer 1999:1).
The definition continues by explaining the implication of unit management, stating that
unit management.

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• Facilitates improved communication.

• Brings about effective management of programmes.
• Promotes direct supervision and active custody.
• Relies heavily on decentralisation.
• Brings custodial and specialised staff together.
• Enhances the role of the correctional official in general.
• Should be complemented by the ideal form of architecture.
• Simplifies control over inmates’ behaviour.
• Brings about advanced social climate inside prison.
• Necessitates the breakdown of the prison population into small semi-autonomous
units.
The most important advantages of unit management are to determine inmate
programmes needs and monitor participations to encourages pro-social institution and
community behaviours that benefits inmates staff, victims and the society (Sawyer
1991:1). That offenders behaviour should change positively through unit management,
which ultimately holds benefits for the correctional officials as well as offenders.
The advantages of unit’s management include the following (Shabangu 2006:251).
• Better integration of security, development programmes and administration.
• Individualised attention or intervention.
• Closer supervision, effective control, and discipline.
• Effective staff responsiveness to problems units management foster the
development of correctional and managerial skills.
• Prisoner population is divided into smaller managed by permanent staff. Staff and
prisoners are held accountable for operations in their unit.
• Positive relationship between staff and prisoners, ensuring interactive offenders
management.
• The focus on documentation of incidents enhances offender motivation for
programme involvement.
• A extensive knowledge of prisoners both for security and programming reasons is
developed.
• The use of a multi-disciplinary team improves communication and co-operation
between staff from various disciplines.
• More responsibility and accountability assigned to each individual offender.
• Better communication and understanding between all individuals.
• Officials are familiar with the background, problems, aspiration and needs of
offenders.
• Officials’ morale and attitudes improve, which results in a decrease in tension
amount officials.

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Question 3
Within the development programmes, offenders are empowered with skills which include
education and training, communication, employment, health awareness recreation and
sport. The effect of development programmes on behaviour, is adversely influence by
poor planning by staff members, for examples, when courses are completed much too
long before inmates are released to retain their values (Duffee 1089:354).
Basic development programmes adopted by the Correctional Services are aimed at
reforming the convicted population by tailoring their approach to different kinds of
problems in prison for maximized correctional outcomes. While the basic of each
programme are designed along the skeletal structure of behaviour modification where the
positive behaviour of correction are rewarded and the negative are addressed by Stricker
punishments, or revoking probation. The basic development programmes address
different types of crimes, whereby anger management is directed at violent criminals and
the behavioural modification offered at this level is better privileges and lesser jail and is
countered with stricter prison time for negative consequences.
Behavioural modification offered to sexual offenders is teaching them about their
deviations and gradual steps to correct themselves. The behaviour is modified by
development programmes by engaging them in constructive activities and helping them
integrate into society. And it also influenced by living conditions, health care need and
helps in building constructive relationships with family and friends. It allows them to refrain
from going back to engaging in criminal behaviour.
Question 4
Section 28 of the Constitution states that every citizen is entitled to education.
Development and education helps offenders acquire enough skills and knowledge that
can be useful after release in order to ensure that offenders become productive citizens
in their societies, they should be provided with basic education (Plaatje 2005:2002).
Development means the provision of services and programmes aimed at developing and
enhancing competencies and skills that will enable the sentenced offender to re-integrate
into the community. Whereby its aim in correctional context is to promote skills
development in line with department and national human resources need (Jonker 2020:
4).
Education refers to the discipline that is concerned with methods of teaching and learning
in schools or school-like environments. Development is related to education.
Development and education services are offered in accordance with provisions of the
Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 and the Constitution of 1996.
There are four major goals of development and education in Correctional Centre which
are as follows.
• Development is intended to keep inmates occupied constructively.
• Development raises the quality of life of individuals while they are incarcerated.

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• Development opens the door to employment after release. Inmates acquire useful
skills, knowledge, insight, social attitudes and behavioural patterns that may lead
to employment or further training after their release from Correctional Centres.
• Activities are initiated that facilitate growth and individuals and provide them with
support, particularly on an intellectual and emotional level (Jonker 2020:6).
Education helps in increasing literacy levels, prepare to gain employment, and elevates
the probability of becoming valuable members of society.

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LIST OF REFERENCES
Bruyns, H. Jonker, J. & Luyt, W. 2002. Unit management and legal principles in Florida:
TSA Publishing
Birzer, M, L. & Roberson, C. 2004. Introduction to correction. 2nd edition. Nevada: Copper
house Publishing Company
Hough, M. Jackson, J. Bradford, B., Myhill, A., & Quinton, P. (2010). Procedural justice,
trust, and institutional legitimacy. Policing: A journal of policy and practice
Jonker, D, 2020. Correctional Services Administration Offender Development
(PEN3706). Pretoria: Unisa
Nilsson, A. (2003). Living conditions, social exclusion, and recidivism among prion
inmates. Journal of Scandinavian studies in Criminology and crime prevention
O’Toole, S & Eyland, S. 2005. Corrections Criminology. Australia: The Federation Press
Plaatjie, M.F. (2005). The application of restorative justice in the South African
Correctional System. Unpublished master’s dissertation: Pretoria; Unisa
Sawyer, K.H. 1999. Unit management manual, http:
www.bop.gov/progstar/5321.07:htm(Accessed on 8 August 2017)
The Republic of South African Constitutional 1996

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ACADEMIC INTERFRITY DECLARATION

Declaration: PEN3706 (Assignment 2)

1. I understand what academic dishonesty entails and am aware of UNISA’s policies

in this regard.
2. I declare that this Essay is my own original work. Where I have used someone
else’s work, I have indicated this by using the prescribed style of referencing. Every
contribution to, and quotation in, this Essay from the work or works of other people
has been referenced according to this style.
3. I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of
passing it off as his or her own work.’
4. I did not make use of another students work and submitted it as my own.

NAME: POIFO THOBEJANE

STUDENT NUMBER: 61802255

MODULE CODE: PEN3706

SIGNATURE: p thobejane
DATE: 13 April 2023