As part of Heritage Month, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele will officially launch the “Reading for Redemption” campaign and open an Integrated Resource Centre (IRC) at St. Albans Correctional Centre in Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape next Monday (17 September), which will pave the way for the annual National Corrections Week (24-30 September).
Correction Week is commemorated annually during September to create awareness amongst communities, and other stakeholders, that correction is a societal responsibility. The emphasis is on communities taking responsibility for correcting offending behaviour through foundation units in the family and community.
Minister Ndebele recently called on all organs of society to donate constructive books to aid the department’s path towards the rehabilitation of offenders. Reading is one of the best ways to build character. The books will be used to instil a culture of reading and learning in offenders. We want to encourage inmates to read, read, read and study, study, study.
The emphasis of Correctional Services is on correction and all of us can be corrected. We must create an environment in correctional facilities that contributes to offenders becoming better than what they were, thereby ensuring a better South Africa.
IRCs are being established at various correctional centres in order to foster a culture of learning, reading and knowledge sharing for both offenders and officials. The IRC will serve as a knowledge hub to promote human capital investment, and support the department’s development and rehabilitation strategic objectives through improving the prospects of offenders acquiring skills that could make them competitive in the job market after serving their sentences.
“As government, we are passionate about galvanising understanding and support for our transformative agenda from prisons to corrections, and preparing those of our offenders who need to get ready to be reintegrated as functional members of society.
“As the reading culture in our country remains minimal, DCS is working towards promoting a culture of reading and writing in our correctional centres and to project reading as a fun activity that expands horizons of knowledge for both offenders and officials. This includes a sustained reading promotion strategy, as a widespread culture of reading and writing will assist our offenders to meet the demands of a knowledgeable society.
Through a collective effort, we must instil a love for reading and create a reading community in our correctional centres in South Africa. We are also working towards Book Debates, where offenders are given books to read and, thereafter, engage in discussions and debates about the books. We are looking forward to this kind of engagement, including that such activities will become part of the daily lives of our offender communities. Let us continue to work together to build a reading offender population, because a reading nation is an empowered nation,” Minister Ndebele said.
Details of the launch are as follows:
Date: Monday, 17 September 2012
Venue: St. Albans Correctional Centre, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Time: 9h30 for 10h00
Journalists attending must confirm attendance with your name, mobile number and email address by no later than 16h00 on Thursday, 13 September 2012, to Tshidi Mapole at matshidiso.mapole@dcs.gov.za or 076 478 3620.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 644 4050
