Authors - Ruth Hopkins
A joint can still get you in the joint
In 2012, I was arrested with two friends for smoking a joint I had just bought off a car guard in Melville, Joburg. Now that dagga has been partially legalised, I feel I can come out of the pot closet.
Following ConCourt ruling, SAPS continues to arrest people for possession of cannabis
The new ConCourt judgment legalising private use of cannabis should lead to a decrease in dagga arrests, but power still rests with the police. To date, cannabis arrests are one of the biggest SAPS arrest categories. Complete decriminalisation would free up R3.5-billion in police resources. This could be put to good use in combating the worrying 7 % increase in the murder rate, contained in the latest SAPS crime stats.
G4S snared by torture allegations at Bloemfontein jail
Inmates say they were given electric shocks and forcibly injected at the multinational security company’s Mangaung Correctional Centre, writes Ruth Hopkins
Why government should focus more on keeping people out of prison
The question is why does the government not focus more on keeping people out of prison – a more cost-effective and humane solution?
Free State ANC tramples on justice
WJP's Ruth Hopkins reveals how several cases involving party members point to the political silencing of their often poor opponents.
‘It Was Him Or Me’: Women Who Killed Their Abusive Partners In Self-Defence
In South Africa, crime statistics for domestic violence, rape and femicide are through the roof. The crime rate for women as perpetrators, on the other hand, is very low. Only approximately 4000 women, a mere 2.6 % of the total prison population, are behind bars.
I Was Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison When My Daughter Was 3 Days Old
Ruth Hopkins's second piece in her four part series on women in prison. She spoke to women incarcerated in Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town and Johannesburg Correctional Centre about how they ended up in prison and how they survive behind bars. This is one of their stories.
This Is What Life In Prison Is Really Like For Women In South Africa
When women and crime end up in the same headline in South Africa, it usually concerns women who are victims of domestic violence and rape. But women also commit crimes and end up serving time in prison. WJP senior journalist Ruth Hopkins' first piece in her four part series on women in prison. She spoke to women incarcerated in Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town and Johannesburg Correctional Centre about how they ended up in prison and how they survive behind bars.
25 years later: men confront person responsible for their 19 years in jail
In 1992 two men were jailed for 19 years for a violent crime they did not commit. This year they confronted the security policeman who had them arrested