Minister to open bakery at Westville Prison to boost rehabilitation efforts
AN inmate kneads the dough at a correctional services bakery. The Department of Correctional Services has placed the provision of food for prisoners as one of the top four cost drivers of its budget after compensation of employees, property payments, and public-private partnership support. Tomorrow, the Westville Prison's bakery will be opened by the Correctional Services Minister, which will give prisoners bakery skills
Image: TIMOTHY BERNARD/ Independent Newspapers
The Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Pieter Groenewald, will tomorrow officially open a newly established bakery at the Westville Prison, Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal, in a move aimed at making correctional facilities more self-sufficient and reducing their dependence on the state.
The bakery, which will be launched at midday, is expected to allow offenders to bake bread for their own consumption, significantly lowering operational costs and saving the department money.
According to the Department of Correctional Services, the initiative is part of a broader effort to equip inmates with practical skills that can help them secure employment or start small businesses upon release, a step they believe will further rehabilitation and reduce re-offending.
“This marks another milestone in our drive to make facilities self-sustainable while empowering offenders with skills that can benefit them and society,” the department said.
CORRECTIONAL Services Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald will open a bakery that will be run by inmates at the Westville Prison, Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow as part of the department's rehabilitation efforts to equip convicts with skills that will held them post-incarceration.
Image: PHANDO JIKELO/Independent Newspapers
The bakery forms part of the Correctional Service’s self-sufficiency and sustainability programme, which also includes agricultural projects, textile production, and other food-processing initiatives.
These projects are designed to cut the cost of running correctional facilities while giving offenders opportunities to learn trades and entrepreneurship.
The Westville Prison, is one of the country’s largest correctional facilities and has in recent years expanded its vocational programmes to prepare inmates for life after incarceration.
Groenewald, who is a staunch supporter of labour among inmates has long advocated for them to work during their incarceration to equip them with skills and to reduce spending by correctional facilities across the country.
Recently, Groenewald shared how all his furniture was made by prisoners. The manufacturing of the furniture predates his appointment last year as minister, he believes in hard labour for prisoners to cut cost for the department.
Rehabilitative penal labour is a controversial subject and has faced resistance from human rights activists worldwide.
The department is grappling with budget cuts. Over the past five years, the department's budget allocation has been reduced by over R11 billion, according to Groenewald, who revealed this during his department's budget. The department's appropriation for 2025/26 financial year is R29.2 billion.