Sexual Violence in Prisons
With its prisons policy project, Sonke seeks to improve prison conditions and government accountability for sexual violence and HIV prevention in prisons.
The aim for Sonke’s prisons policy project is a decrease in the number of inmates who experience sexual abuse and contract HIV, a galvanised gender and HIV sector that views the health and safety of inmates as a priority, and a government that is able to implement evidence-based good practices and is accountable for preventing and eradicating sexual violence and HIV in prisons. To achieve this goal, Sonke leverages multiple advocacy approaches including the following:
- Advocacy for law and policy reform to prevent the sexual abuse of inmates in Department of Correctional Services (DCS) centres;
- Training and technical support for DCS on sexual violence and HIV prevention;
- Applied research to build the evidence base for strategic advocacy to improve policies and practices for the prevention of sexual violence and HIV in detention settings;
- Media advocacy to stimulate public discourse on health and sexual violence in detention settings; and
- Civil society coalition building to mobilise stakeholders and hold government accountable for preventing sexual violence and HIV transmission in detention settings.
Sonke’s prisons policy work is funded by the Open Society Foundation of South Africa, the Ford Foundation, and the MAC AIDS Foundation, and is conducted with strategic partners such as Just Detention International.
