Training prisoners is vital
October 22, 2003 Edition -1
I agree with your editorial on the importance of restorative justice ("Restoring a balance", The Star, October 16).
However, I believe that restorative justice is not sufficient in addressing the complex crime problem.
It is one essential strategy. I believe that rehabilitation programmes need to be implemented to provide life skills and rehabilitation for prison inmates to prevent them from returning to a life of crime after their release.
A few months ago, the Department of Correctional Services announced the release of 8 000 prisoners to ease prison overcrowding.
At first glance, releasing all these inmates appears desirable. The concern about this is whether the department's leadership understands what it would do to community safety just to release prison inmates without a plan of action.
The problem is that the department does not have an intensive rehabilitative plan for those confined inside the prison walls. Usually offenders who enter prison illiterate and unemployable will leave the same way upon release.
Many encounter problems securing permanent employment because they lack occupational skills, have little or no job-hunting experience and have criminal records.
Ex-offenders who are not attending school, are unemployed, or work in poorly paying or temporary employment often fall back into crime. This phenomenon is seen by the 66% recidivism rate in the correctional system.
Without any doubts, prison overcrowding contributes to the spread of communicable diseases and viruses, particularly tuberculosis and HIV/Aids.
Therefore, before even talking about releasing inmates, the department must have a plan to help inmates reintegrate into their communities successfully.
Incarceration presents a window of opportunity for effective job training, educational improvement and HIV/Aids prevention and treatment services for men and women before and after release from prison.
The department must curb the barriers, which include the lack of reintegration strategy for offenders into their communities and establishment of community-based programmes to supervise and help the transition of offenders into the community to be smooth.
In fact, the model works in New York and other huge cities of the United States which, like SA cities, are plagued by high crime rates.
In some American cities, the model has help reduce crime rate by more than 75% in the past five years.
Velile Notshulwana
Associate professor of psychology
New Jersey City University, US
