Imagine a Neurodivergent with a medical condition, detained. I have reason to believe that in the facility, he is exposed to drugs and may as well be partaking in them.

Detained neurodivergent individuals face specific challenges in custody, including potential sensory overload, communication difficulties, and a high risk of misinterpretation of their behavior. 

Their exposure to substances in corrections facilities constitutes a denial of their fundamental human rights, notably the rights to health, adequate nutrition, a safe and healthy living environment.

A critical review of the procedural interface between SAPS and Correctional Services is warranted. The existing framework, which delays essential interventions like therapeutic programs and social work until after sentencing, is counterproductive. This gap in service provision exacerbates individual risk and represents a systemic failure in the foundational duty of care.

Our correctional facilities have become flooded with the very substances that fuel addiction and crime, destroy dreams, destinies and breaks homes. Our Correctional facilities are no longer centers for rehabilitation. This "system" sets up vulnerable people for failure, denying them a fair shot at recovery and reintegration. Drugs inside prisons impair judgment and destroy any chance of recovery, failing inmates and their families creating reoffenders.

WE DEMAND ACTION:

1. We demand that our leaders acknowledge these systemic failures, refuse to be enablers and take decisive action to reform our correctional services centres. 
2. Stop the shutting out of families with bureaucratic walls when they try to advocate for their loved ones' safety and recovery, we are working together, not against each other.
3. Allow for random drug testing in all facilities to determine the root cause of crime compared to normal criminals.
4. Establish independent oversight to ensure transparency and get training in neurodiversity. 
5. Fund comprehensive rehab programs that actually work because prisons are full of drug addicts, the root cause of crime needs to be dealt with. 

This petition is a call for intentional governance that prioritizes its people. We demand action to reform our prisons into places of rehabilitation,  not epicenters and enabling environments of the national drug epidemic. This is a profound betrayal of public safety and human rights. If you believe a controlled environment must not fuel the drug crisis, sign now to demand transformation.