are dissatisfied with their conditions of service and would require more incentives to venture into prisons, for instance, an increase in their dangerous allowance, increase in overtime pay. H. Involvement of civil society An overwhelming number of civil society organisations work in the criminal justice field in general and on prisons issues in particular. Some such as CSVR and NICRO are involved in penal reform, research, but the majority monitor prisons and the conditions of detention. The Government allows these organisations to visit detention facilities. Prison authorities are also cooperative, even though some organisations reported having difficulties visiting some facilities. The IPVs from the JIOP are regular visitors and have easy access to prisons. They have a statutory power to visit prisons and speak to prisoners. The South African Human Rights Commission, Lawyers for Human Rights and other NGOs also visit prisons and the Lindela Repatriation Centre. NICRO and CRED also have skills development programmes in prisons. NICRO operates across the country while CRED operates only in the Western Cape Province, but is planning to extend its activities throughout the country. NICRO recently challenged in court the restriction of prisoners from voting. In the case of the Minister of Home Affairs and Others v NICRO and Others,19 the Constitutional Court of South Africa held in NICRO’s favour and argued that a government that restricts the franchise to a select portion of citizens is a government that weakens its ability to function as a legitimate representative of the excluded citizens, jeopardizes its claims to representative democracy, and erodes the basis of its right to convict and punish law-breakers. This landmark decision emphasises the point that an offender losses only those rights as prescribed by the courts to enable correctional officials to rehabilitate him/her for eventual reintegration into society. They do not suffer a “social death” leading to forfeiture of all civil rights. The right to vote is just one of the many rights that a prisoner retains whilst in prison. According to Sachs J, “the vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite simply, it says that everyone counts”. Other initiatives by other sectors of civil society aimed at improving the lives of persons deprived of their liberty, especially prisoners include the President Award Youth Empowerment Programme, Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative, Restorative Justice and the proposed establishment of a Sub-Committee on Awaiting Trial Prisoners. These are good practices that should be emulated by other countries to improve their prison regimes. 19 CCT 03/04. 58