Post-apartheid South Africa embraced the U.S. supermax prison model

Evidence

Ironically, the reason given for the delay was the competition for water between the prison and a new low-cost housing development. I am highlighting South Africa’s embrace of the supermax because of the apparent ease with which this most repressive version of the U.S. prison has established itself in a country that has just recently initiated the project of building a democratic, nonracist, and nonsexist society. South Africa was the first country in the world to create constitutional assurances for gay rights, and it immediately abolished the death penalty after the dismantling of apartheid. Nevertheless, following the example of the United States, the South African prison system is expanding and becoming more oppressive. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 272

Categorization

• SEED: The irony—a prison winning a water competition against low-cost housing in a newly democratic South Africa—is a vivid case study for an essay on prison expansion.
• XREF: connects to: Even democratic South Africa embraced oppressive U.S. supermax prisons; The U.S. supermax solitary-confinement model is spreading worldwide — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 269; The United States dominates a global prison economy and punishment style — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 267

Related

• The U.S. supermax solitary-confinement model is spreading worldwide (similarity 0.81)
• The United States dominates a global prison economy and punishment style (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Even democratic South Africa embraced oppressive U.S. supermax prisons #exemplifies (0.95)
• The U.S. supermax solitary-confinement model is spreading worldwide #exemplifies (0.85) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 269
• The United States dominates a global prison economy and punishment style #corroborates (0.55) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 267