ABSTRACT
South African prisons are shaped by a justice system that is hardest on the poor, uses pre-trial detention excessively, and sees incarceration as a solution to crime. Sexual violence is one of the gravest harms that people can experience behind bars, but has been historically neglected in prisons policy and procedure – as well as by broader society. Based on interviews with incarcerated and previously incarcerated men and the work of a non-profit organisation seeking to address the violence, this chapter shows how inmate culture and official practice endorse sexual violence, and how damaging notions of gender and sexuality are deeply implicated in this state of affairs. Even before arrival in prison, following arrest individuals are forced to comply with violent inmate power structures that insist that newcomers assist them in channelling goods into prisons and in new uses for their bodies. For some, this prefigures the experience of sexual violence and long-term sexual abuse. Efforts to address this violence are underway (driven by the civil society organisation, Just Detention International-South Africa) but much more is needed to create sexual safety for incarcerated people and, in turn, to the marginalised communities to which incarcerated people mainly return.
