Government is reviewing jail time for criminals in South Africa – here are the planned changes
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola says his department is considering a review of the country’s detention periods and parole policy.
Responding in a recent written parliamentary Q&A, Lamola said that his department has developed a discussion document which specifically focuses on offenders sentenced for sexual and aggressive offences.
“A discussion document on the review of the minimum detention period to be served by offenders who have committed offences relating to gender-based violence, sexual and aggressive offences was drafted and submitted to state law advisers during September 2019 for an opinion,” Lamola said.
“This document proposed that such category of offenders should be considered for parole after serving two-thirds of a sentence instead of half of the sentence as prescribed by Section 73 of the Correctional Services Act.”
However, Lamola said that any legislation or legislative amendment which adversely affects subjects cannot be applied retrospectively.
This means that any amendment to the current minimum detention periods will not impact offenders already serving their sentences, he said.
Repeat offenders and parole
Lamola said that his department is also considering enforcing ‘compliance with placement conditions’ by ensuring that offenders whose parole has been revoked will have to serve the remainder of their sentence in a correctional centre.
“If the remainder of the sentence is more than five years or if the offender is serving a sentence of life imprisonment, placement on parole must be considered on completion of five years of the portion of the sentence which remained after parole was cancelled.
“This proposal will serve as a deterrent to parolees from violating placement conditions as failure to comply will result in them serving the remainder of the sentence in a correctional centre as opposed to the maximum two years further profile as prescribed by Section 75(6) of the Correctional Services Act”.
Lamola said that parole forms part of the total rehabilitation programme in correcting offending behaviour and may include continuation of programmes aimed at reintegration whilst in the system of community corrections.
It is regarded as an aid to the social reintegration of an offender and a mechanism to manage the risk an offender may pose to the community through monitoring by community corrections.
Low-risk crimes
In June, Lamola said that government was also carefully examining the criminal justice system in relation to incarceration for low-risk crimes so that it does not become the only option for such crimes.
“The high number of those imprisoned for economic crimes has prompted us to ask ourselves whether incarceration should be the only option at our disposal,” he said.
Lamola said short-term incarceration for low-risk crimes does not give enough time for the correctional services system to reform and rehabilitate offenders.
“We will be reviewing some of our policies and we are looking forward to thoughtful contributions, which will emanate from public debates through the legislative process so that together, we can address overcrowding in correctional centres,” the Minister said.
He said the rate of imprisonment for awaiting trial offenders is increasing at a rate which requires South Africa to urgently interrogate the linkages in the criminal justice system.
An analysis of the inmate population to date reveals that the bed space in correctional services currently sits at 118,572, whereas there is a total of 149,330 inmates, with 96,272 sentenced inmates and 53 058 remand detainees.
This means that 55.1% of the inmate population have yet to have their day in court.
“These numbers cannot be viewed outside of the country’s socio-economic conditions. Our prison population is largely constituted by those from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly young black males.
“Some are in our centres for economic crimes such as shoplifting, stealing and robbery. There are also those who have committed heinous crimes,” Lamola said.
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