By Ragheema Mclean

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has handed down a judgment that will allow prisoners to use laptops in their cells as part of their studies, which has been seen by the court as a constitutional right to education.

This means that any prisoner who is officially registered as a student at a tertiary institution will be entitled to use a computer without a modem in their prison cell to support their studies.

The case originated in 2018, when Mbalenhle Nthuli, a prisoner seeking to complete a data management course, faced limited access to the prison computer room.

Speaking on VOC Drive Time on Thursday, Legal Counsellor in the Penal Reform Programme Tumelo Mogale highlighted Nthuli’s struggle to access study materials within the confines of prison routines.

Mogale stressed, “Nthuli was only allowed to study at the library during the prisons operating hours.”

He noted that the prisoner argued for the right to use his personal laptop in his cell for uninterrupted study sessions.

Furthermore, the case gained momentum after his laptop was confiscated upon his transfer to Johannesburg Medium C prison, where the policy explicitly prohibited personal computers in cells.

“After his request to the Regional Commissioner was dismissed, he approached the High Court in Johannesburg, where he represented himself and won.”

The SCA not only ruled in his favour but also set aside a dated policy from 2007 that prohibited personal computers in cells.

The department has been directed to disseminate the revised policy to the head of every correctional centre, and to the head of education at each centre.

Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the potential risks this could cause, some referring to the Thabo Bester situation, where he communicated freely with the outside world, even running a business empire from behind bars.

VOC News

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