• • • • • • • ii) the offender remains a member of society and forfeits only those rights and privileges which are expressly taken away by statute or as a necessary consequence of the custody and control imposed by the court; the loss of liberty, restriction of mobility, or any other disposition of the court constitutes the sanction; correctional services must not impose further punishment in relation to the offender's crime and must adopt the least restrictive course of action that is sufficient to meet the legal requirements of the dispositions, in the essential exercise of discretion; correctional agencies must adhere to procedural safeguards that are not only fair but are perceived to be fair, and more importantly, correctional policies and practices must not deny the offender the hope of regaining status as a free citizen; correctional agencies have the responsibility to assist the offender to develop or maintain positive and supportive personal and family relations; correctional agencies have a responsibility to present and promote a wide range of programs and services developed to meet the legitimate needs and interests of the offenders and to encourage and facilitate their participation; and correctional objectives should be met through shared responsibility and cooperative action by the community, correctional workers, other segments of the criminal justice system and the offenders themselves Category of prisoners The prison population in South Africa can be categorized in different ways, including gender, race, age, sentences, crimes etc. a) Female prisoners There are 8 female-only prisons, 72 male and female prisons and 141 male-only prisons. The approved capacity for female prisons across the country is 4,374 and as at June 2004 there were only 4,340 female prisoners representing 99.22% occupation. There are 1,242 unsentenced female prisoners and 3,098 sentenced female prisoners. There is a total of 565 serving sentences of between 10 years and life imprisonment. The Durban Female Correctional Center The Special Rapporteur visited only one facility holding female prisoners, that is, the Durban Female Correctional Centre. The Durban Female Correctional Center has a total of 449 inmates. This number can be broken down into the following categories – adults, nursing mothers, juveniles and children. The Centre has an approved capacity of 244 and at the time of the visit had a total of 474 prisoners – 194 un-sentenced and 240 sentenced, representing 194.26% occupancy rate. The table below shows the composition of prisoners in the Durban Female Correctional Center. 41