Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Monday 26 March addressed a national work session for Correctional Supervision Parole Boards (CSPB) and Case Management Committees (CMC) in the Pretoria Management Area where she dealt with several operational challenges and legislative changes impacting on the quality of the parole administration across the board.
The two-day session that ran from 26 to 27 March, brought together over 300 representatives from all 52 Parole Boards countrywide and all chairpersons of the Case Management Committees working in Department of Correctional Services (DCS). All the delegates play a pivotal role in various chains of parole administration and are responsible for making recommendations for placement of deserving rehabilitated offenders on parole in all the department’s 242 correctional centres.
The aim of the work session was to map out progressive ways for dealing with the training of CSPBs and CMCs, particularly on the impact of certain changes in the provisions of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act that came into effect on 1 March 2012. The session also aimed at ironing out the position of parole boards in relation to the department, the composition of profile reports by CMCs and the changes to some minimum periods of sentences, the changes related to the Constitutional Court Judgement of the Van Vuren versus the Minister of DCS and the North Gauteng High Court Judgement of Van Wyk versus the Minister of DCS.
The Minister said there are a number of burning issues that require on-going engagements within the department, the CSPBs and the CMCs. “It is necessary to clarify that parole boards are not independent. This has been the position since the inception of the newly composed parole boards in the White Paper on Corrections. As CSPB, you are given a degree of independence in your decision making but as in any other sphere of public life that independence is subject to limitations. Nothing is absolute,” asserted the minister.
She listed that the White Paper stipulated that a new system of parole should allow for participation of community members, direct involvement of relevant state departments in the integrated justice system, direct and valued involvement of family and friends of the offender and direct inputs from the victims of crime, among others.
Members of the parole boards are appointed by the Minister and she determines their terms of office. The minister has the delegated authority to remove a member of the board from office on the grounds of misbehaviour, incapacity or incompetence.
“I am not convinced that the department had yet succeeded in putting in place a comprehensive performance monitoring system for parole boards. I have decided to make it one of my priorities to ensure that a comprehensive performance monitoring system for parole boards is put in place to ensure accountability and to identify and address problems experienced with incompetence in practice in a timely manner. Parole boards must be accountable for their decisions,” said Minister Mapisa-Nqakula.
The minister said if proper reporting systems were followed in the conversion of sentence application for the so-called ‘Waterkloof 2’, the integrity of the parole system in South Africa could have been protected by early interventions on the part of the department.
On 1 March 2012, the majority of the provisions of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act, 2011 were promulgated to put into effect a new medical parole policy and also bring about minor amendments to Section 73 of the Act in reference to minimum detention periods.
Following these developments, the minister swiftly moved and appointed a Medical Parole Advisory Board to deal with the changes in the Correctional Matters Amendment Act, 2011.
She said that it is of vital importance that the CSPBs and CMCs receive appropriate training urgently because there would be sentenced offenders who may benefit immediately from the amended minimum detention periods. “I expect parole boards and CMCs to prioritise these categories and report the outcomes back to me,” she said.
With the new provisions, offenders sentenced to periods of up to 24 months, will now qualify for consideration for parole after having served a quarter of their term as opposed to a third and offenders sentenced to ‘minimum sentences’ now qualify for consideration after serving half of their sentences as opposed to a fifth. “If these changes are applied correctly and proactively, they could have a significant impact on our sentenced population. I also want to reiterate that these provisions do not mean that those who qualify for considerations will be guaranteed parole,” cautioned the minister.
The minister said that changes in the medical parole differ with the previous system in that applications can now be brought by an offender or someone acting on the offender’s behalf. Previously, only the DCS medical personnel within the limited definition of final phase of a terminal illness were responsible for making an application for an offender.
She said parole administration can be effective only if the Case Management Committees would aptly do their job of compiling comprehensive assessment reports for each sentenced offender, the preparation of sentence plans for offenders sentenced to periods longer than 24 months and the compilation of their profile. “Without the proper and comprehensive reports by CMC, neither I nor the parole boards or heads of centres could perform our duties in relation to the consideration of sentenced offenders for placement on parole or correctional supervision.”
The minister committed to making sure that CMCs are staffed with proper human resource capacity to function optimally. She said the CMCs offender profiles should vividly reflect the judge’s sentencing remarks when formulating their recommendations, involvement of victims of parole board hearings. She also promised to address the issue of filling of vacancies within the parole boards’ structures.
The minister concluded by announcing that the department had on 14 February launched the electronic monitoring system on a pilot to tag lifers placed on parole since 1 April 2011. The pilot will run for a year. She also launched the first DCS run Halfway House project in co-operation with civil society on 24 February 2012.
Minister Mapisa-Nqakula looks to improve parole administration
