Convicts to get a lifeline

In a historical judgement, a Western Cape High Court judge decided that offenders sentenced to two years or less should rather do community service than go into overcrowded prisons.

Last week, acting Judge Daniel Thulare said convicts sentenced for lesser crimes are just ‘taking up space’ in prison.

“A sentence of imprisonment for a period of less than 24 months amounts to nothing more than judicial warehousing of the accused who are generally poor and casualties of socio-economic conditions,” he said.

“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) does nothing more than an act of storing them until they are released without benefiting in any way from such incarceration.”

DCS spokesperson, Simphiwe Xako, said the ruling would not affect current bandiete.

“Judge Thulare’s ruling will not directly affect the current offender population numbers in any way, as the ruling will only apply to future rulings of the courts.

“Should the ruling be implemented by judicial officials, the ruling will certainly bring much-needed relief to a number of correctional centres around the country,” Xako said.

“DCS will be able to save millions of rand, which can be redirected to providing more technical and human resources for our Community Corrections divisions.

“This will lead to more effective and efficient monitoring of parolees,” Xako explained.

Xako added once Thulare’s decision was tabled, the next steps of monitoring the convicts and what kind of community service they would be doing will be decided.

“That fact will be determined once a formal proposal has been tabled and thoroughly discussed by all components of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster.

“We are still at the level of a historic court ruling. The relevant stakeholders have to engage and discuss the judgement and its ramifications,” Xako added.

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