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A World Apart

Final Project: A World Apart
By
Connie Sheree Treadway
Axia College/ Phoenix University
CJS230
December 5, 2008

The foreign country I chose to research and compare to the American prison system was South Africa; there are about 140,000 prisoners incarcerated in South Africa. The level of overcrowding is 141% and the cost per inmate is roughly $123 a day to house a prisoner (South Africa DOC, 2008). They are building two new correctional centers and constructing 21 parole board offices to help with over crowding (South Africa DOC, 2008). They intend to transform prisons into correctional centers that provide education and job skills to help reintegrate inmate into society (South Africa DOC, 2008). They do not use privatization for their correctional systems.
In Africa the court system has been narrowed down to just three district courts (Reesey, 2008). The district and magistrates courts govern non-violent minor offenses such as shoplifting or minor assault; the normal sentence for these crimes are up to three years with a minimal fine as well (Reesey, 2008).
The Regional Court handles larger area of the country and hears offenses such as robbery, or murder and violent crimes (Reesey, 2008). The High Courts have jurisdiction over all crimes in their designated geographical area, which relate to civil cases or serious criminal crimes. There are nine jurisdictions deal with most of what would be considered felony cases and there are no jurisdictional limits (Reesey, 2008).
South Africa no longer uses the death penalty as a form of punishment. Offenders in this type case receive life in prison with a substantial fine (Reesey, 2008). A life sentence in South Africa is 25 years then the prisoner is up for parole (Reesey,...