Task team to evaluate South Africa’s parole process
Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Adv. Michael Masutha, has set up a Task Team to evaluate the entire value chain of the parole process in South Africa.
Addressing Parole Board Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons from the 53 Parole Boards across the country earlier today (3 July 2015), at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre in Johannesburg, the Minister said a new framework needed to be developed for the management of parole in the country.
“Our Parole Boards must operate in a more professional, and independent, manner, to enable them to make quality decisions that will stand in any court of law.
A new framework needs to be developed for parole in South Africa, including benchmarking ourselves against international best practice. The importance of Parole Boards, as well as their Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons, cannot be over-emphasized. Parole Boards are critical in the implementation, and management, of sentences meted out by the courts”.
Minister Masutha said all Chairpersons of the Parole Boards will be given a 12-month contract to bring stability and create space for the review of the parole system. He also gave the administration two months within which to resolve and settle a series of human resources management challenges facing the Chairpersons and their Deputies.
“It is the Parole Boards who have to assess if rehabilitation programmes have had the desired impact on inmates, before their release on parole is considered. The rights of victims matter just as much as that of offenders. It is crime which produces victims, or who I refer to as the offended. The aim of crime is to produce victims. It cannot be that we talk about human rights, and associated values, but all that we focus on is those who caused the pain. What about the victim? How can we say that we are a just society by only considering the rights of offenders, and have absolute disregard for victims? We cannot consider the parole application of any offender which does not show that the victims were consulted. These matters are not easy, but they cannot simply be ignored. To this end, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) must be commended for the roll-out of the audio-visual system in Parole Board offices.
“With regards to offenders, they remain economically, and socially, imprisoned for life due to the issue of criminal records. DCS needs to do much more to address this issue, and ensure that inmates are able to become socially independent. There are numerous inmates who should have long been on parole, but still remain incarcerated due to our own administrative inefficiencies.
How successful are our rehabilitation programmes if there are offenders, who have been incarcerated for more than 20 years, who cannot be considered for parole? However, it is also pleasing to note that more than 94% of offenders released on parole do not violate their parole conditions and this number is continuously increasing.
“Correctional Services does not operate in isolation, and is an extension of the justice system. What value should Parole Boards be adding in this value chain? It is for these reasons that we will be reviewing the entire offender rehabilitation pathway, the work of the case management committees, sentence plans, rehabilitation programmes and so on.
We are looking at best practice on how to capacitate the Parole Boards, including:
- A separate Parole Act, with guidelines and procedures on decision-making;
- Legislating timelines on parole consideration periods from the case management committees, the National Council on Correctional Services as well as the Office of the Minister. This will assist in addressing the current high number of court decisions;
- Risk assessment tools;
- Victim participation;
- Hearing procedures;
- Parole conditions; and
- Appointment of Parole Board members and conditions of service”.
During his Budget Vote Speech on 20 May 2015, Minister Masutha said: “The current parole dispensation has been in operation for almost a decade. I have deemed it necessary to review the parole system to, among others, strengthen:
A. The recruitment and retention of highly skilled professionals to boost the capacity of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPBs) like criminologists and psychologists.
B. Victim and community participation and empowerment with a more proactive stance to ensure their involvement in parole hearings.
C. Partnerships with institutions of higher learning to assist in developing a scientifically proven risk assessment tool, which is offence specific, to support the decision making processes of parole boards, and Capacity building programmes for CSPBs. These include Unisa and University of Johannesburg.
D. Capacity building programmes for CSPBs, and introducing mandatory programmes that cover, among others, interviewing techniques, motivational interviewing skills, restorative justice and victim support services.
“During the 2014/15 financial year, progress was made in advancing victim participation in the parole system in line with the Criminal Procedure and Correctional Services Acts which provide a framework for the consultation of victims of crime in parole considerations. Our commitment is to ensure effective social reintegration with more involvement by victims, families and communities”.
Enquiries:
Manelisi Wolela
Deputy Commissioner: Communication
Cell: 076 062 2180
E-mail: Manelisi.Wolela@dcs.gov.za
