The Weekly Editorial

The release of thousands of prisoners following the granting of remission of sentences on Freedom Day by President Jacob presents our society with a dilemma.

On the one hand it is good because it will help free up our clogged prisons which are filled by petty offenders who are there because they cannot afford bail. On the other hand, there is a real possibility of dangerous and unrehabilitated offenders being unleashed on society.

But more fundamentally, will these offenders not return to prison soon after their release? Then there is an important question of the victims of these criminals not being fully consulted during the process.

Nationally, more than 35 000 offenders could be released, depending on an assessment. Zuma’s remission will see all sentenced inmates, probationers and parolees granted a six month remission of sentence and an additional 12 months.

Government maintains that the remission will reduce the level of overcrowding in correctional centres from 34 percent to approximately 20 percent. This is a significant reduction. As outlined before our prisons are filled with thousands of young people who are locked up for petty crimes such as stealing groceries and cannot get out prison because they cannot afford bail.

They are mixed with rapists, murderers and other dangerous criminals who are serving long sentences. The result is that these young prisoners turn into dangerous criminals themselves. The remission will ensure that such offenders are freed from dangerous prisons.

It is estimated that about 20 855 probationers and parolees, and 14 651 sentenced inmates would be released “conditionally or unconditionally” in terms of an assessment process. The completion of a compulsory pre-release assessment and the attendance of the programme is a prerequisite before the conditional or unconditional release of offenders can take place.

This again makes a lot of sense. People who are on probation or are parolees have already being judged as rehabilitated and ready to integrate into society by the department of correctional services. So the remission frees them from the burden of having to report to their nearest police station everyday and the going through onerous red tape before they go out of town or out of the country. They can now live as free citizens and rebuild their lives after years of imprisonment.

This week it was announced that more than 2 800 Free State and Northern Cape prisoners will go free under the remission of sentences.

Deputy regional commissioner Grace Molatedi said 1 927 prisoners, out of 2 869, would be released from the Grootvlei Prison outside Bloemfontein.

According to the report, Grootvlei was 114 percent overcrowded. More than 200 offenders had already been conditionally released at the prison authority’s social integration centre in the Bloemfontein central business area. They had been held for less serious crimes. Offenders still in prison would be released from May 14.

This remission of sentences by President Zuma is not the first since 1994. There was a remission of sentences when former president Nelson Mandela was inaugurated on 10 May 1994. The others were on the first Freedom Day on 27 April 1995; on Mandela’s 80th birthday on 18 July 1998; and to mark the first year of former president Thabo Mbeki’s second term in office on 30 May 2005.

Addressing concerns of lack of consultation of victims, Molatedi said victims had to understand that offenders could not stay in prison forever. She assured residents of both provinces that everyone released will adhere to stringent requirements and must have followed a rehabilitation programme.

She insists there is control even afterwards The other problem, of course, is whether we can be guaranteed that the offenders will not go back to their old ways. Communities are genuinely concerned about this, especially given the high rate of violent crime in our country. Molatedi said only 0.25 percent of those released in 2005 transgressed again.

In all fairness to the government, no one can guarantee that the offenders released will not repeat their offences. It is important that the department of correctional services drafts strict guidelines on who qualifies for the remission and jacks up its rehabilitation programme, as well as its after-prison monitoring service.

Communities, as well as relatives of offenders, also have a responsibility to ensure firstly that they do not discriminate against the offenders, and secondly, that they assist them to reintegrate into society. Offenders should be offered employment and be made part of a normal society again. Zuma’s remission hits two birds with one stone.

It goes a long way in ensuring that we do not have overcrowded, unhygienic and unsafe prisons. But, it also ensures that people who are not supposed to be in jail, are not in jail. Government and society has to deal with the ramifications of the decision.