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Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act No. 111 of 1998)

Regulations for the Administration of the Department of Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa

Chapter II : Custody of all Inmates under Conditions of Human Dignity

8. Contact with Community

 

1) The Head of the Correctional Centre must give special attention to the development and maintenance of good family relationships between inmates and their family members and other relatives.

 

2) The Head of the Correctional Centre must convey any important information regarding an inmate's family, relatives or friends that may come to his or her attention, to the inmate as soon as practicable.

 

3) On admission to a correctional centre or when an inmate is transferred, subject to the provision of Regulation 25(1)(b), the Head of the Correctional Centre must, allow the inmate to notify his or her spouse, partner or next of kin in the manner prescribed by the Order, unless otherwise requested in writing by the inmate.

 

4) The Head of the Correctional Centre may authorise a correctional official, in writing, that communications between an inmate and a member of the public, including letters and communications, including electronic communications, in the course of a visit, be opened, read, listened to or otherwise intercepted with the assistance of an agency mandated by legislation, or blocked if not a subject of a legal privilege, by a correctional official, mechanical device, or electronic device, where the Head of the Correctional Centre believes on reasonable grounds:
a) that the communications contain or will contain evidence of:
i) an act that will jeopardise the security of the correctional centre or the safety of any person; or
ii) a criminal offence or a plan to commit a criminal offence; and
b) that the interception of such -communication is the least restrictive measure available in the circumstances.

 

5) Where a communication is intercepted under sub-regulation (4) the Head of the Correctional Centre or the correctional official designated by him or her must as soon as reasonably practicable after such interception inform the inmate, in writing, of the reasons for the interception and give the inmate an opportunity to make representations with respect thereto, unless the information would adversely affect an ongoing investigation, in which case the inmate must be informed of the reasons and given an opportunity to make representations with respect thereto on completion of the investigation.