The authorities have encouraged the established a rival gang, The Big Fives to spy on other gangs and report to them. This can be very dangerous and can create conflicts amongst prisoners. Authorities also use the gangs as a means of controlling trouble in prisons as they can simply deal with the gang leaders. This approach has not yielded the desired result. (Perhaps South African prison authorities should consider studying the Ethiopian system of establishing Prisoners Committee – see section on Best Practices of other countries). (ii) Overcrowding Overcrowding is prevalent in almost every prison visited and is therefore at the root of many of the human rights abuses. It is a recipe for violence and poses a serious challenge to the rehabilitation programmes. It is by itself a human rights violation and occasions further human rights violations. A high prison population is also a drain on scarce national resources. Due to the large number of inmates, the equipment and teachers are not always enough to meet the increasing number. In Leeuwkop Juvenile Centre and Leeukop Maximum Prison, the number of inmates far outweigh the skills development programmes. At the time of the visit just a handful of juveniles were engaged in skills development programmes and the majority were locked up in their cells. The situation was the same in most of the other prisons visited. (iii) Poverty A study conducted by the Office of the Inspecting Judge reveals that most juveniles, especially in the lower age bracket are more involved in economic crimes than in violent crimes. The seriousness of their crime increases with age. Any strategy to deal with the high number of prisoners in the country must also take into account the poverty level of the inmates and the crimes for which they are in prison. Most of those in prison have been detained for petty offences and other offences caused by their social conditions. An extensive and integrated research should be undertaken to determine the relationship between the offenders and the crimes they commit. Proper social programmes must be established to deal with younger children to prevent them from falling prey either through the influence of adults or through the breakdown of family social networks. Young children who are idle are also vulnerable. The table below illustrates the progression of crime with age including violent crimes. Age group C h i l d r e n UNDER I 8 7-13 years Category Economic Aggression Sexual Narcotics Others Total 5 7 2 0 3 17 14 years 79 40 9 1 5 134 54 15 years 242 169 63 4 11 489 16 years 460 462 151 11 34 1118 17 years 841 919 263 26 75 2124 Total 1627 1597 488 42 128 3882