Transforming prisons into correctional centres - places of new beginnings April 2005 Select Committee on Security & Constitutional Affairs The DCS The Department of Correctional Services REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Assistance offered to community corrections centres where prisoners have been released and are ready to be re-integrated to society The DCS The Department of Correctional Services REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres WHITE PAPER ON CORRECTIONS The White Paper on Corrections makes provision for:   the preparation of offenders for their social acceptance and reintegration into their communities.   commencing upon admission to completion of sentence   rebuilding the relationships between offenders and their communities.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres Definition of reintegration Reintegration refers to the ongoing process, in which offenders are prepared for their ultimate release and assisted to readjust to community life. The successful reintegration of offenders into the community is considered to be the ultimate aim of their detention and development in correctional centre. Consequently, the Department of Correctional Services gives priority to actions aimed achieving this objective.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres OBJECTIVES OF REINTEGRATION The objectives of reintegration are to:   Enable offenders to lead a socially responsible and crime-free life while serving their sentences in the community. Community corrections exercises supervision and control over offenders.   Involve society in community-based correctional matters by encouraging them to provide employment and accommodation to needy offenders.   Ensure that offenders are successfully reintegrated into society into the community.   Offer financial and material assistance to offenders upon their release and placement   Provide job opportunities and obtain the co-operation of employers with regard to the released offenders.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres REINTEGRATION POLICY The Department fully recognizes that direct and sudden release to the community after close confinement can have an adverse effect on offenders’ ability to reintegrate successfully, it thus, attempts,as far as possible, to equip offenders with those skills required for their effective reintegration into the community.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2005/ /10 The strategic plan makes provision for:   different forms of material assistance   development of needs based programmes

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres Establishing of curriculum vitae for offenders prior to placement. Obtain information from the Department’s personnel who are assisting in them to find employment.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres MATERIAL ASSISTANCE TO RELEASED OFFENDERS Section 43 of the Correctional Services Act, 1998(Act 111 of 1998) makes provision sentenced offenders to receive various forms of material assistance upon release.   medicine,   clothing,   trade tools,   transport to their destination   advances that should accommodate direct needs immediately after release.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres   Transfer Section 43(1) of Correctional Services Act, 1998(Act 111 of 1998) makes provision for offenders to be transferred timeously to a correctional centre nearest to their place of resettlement.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres Section 45(1) of the Correctional Services Act, 1998(Act 111 of 1998) makes provision for offenders with sentences of more than six months to be prepared for release. This section makes it possible for offenders to participate in standard pre- release programme, which includes, among other things,   Standard Pre-release Programme   assistance with obtaining and maintaining employment,   guidance on adjustment/adaptation problems, and   information on the terms of parole.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres   PREPARATION FO RELEASE AND REINTEGRATION INTO THE COMMUNITY Commences six weeks prior to the offenders’ placement on parole.   Accommodation   Employment   Pre-release programme

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres PRE-RLEASE INTERVIEW WITH OFFENDERS The purpose of pre-release  employment  accommodation

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres EXTERNAL JOB INTERVIEW WITH PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS If the employer requires a personal interview with offender before considering him/her for employment, it is the responsibility of community reintegration official to make arrangements.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres ACCOMMODATION ARRANGEMENTS Provision of accommodation - family, friends, and even employers.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres   Programmes presentented in conjunction with:   Social Workers   NGO’s,   FBO’s   CBO’s

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres COMMUNITY’S INVOLVEMENT IN REINTEGRATING RELEASED OFFENDERS   providing accommodation ;   meeting and providing direct material needs such as clothing;   including the released offenders in social activities, such sport; and   assisting in monitoring the offender’s progress after release.

Assistance offered to Community Corrections Centres CHALLEGES FACING COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS Marketing of Correctional Supervision Implementation of Section 62(f) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 Lack of sufficient and suitable vehicles Inaccessibility of Community Corrections Offices

the dcs The Department of Correctional Services REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Correctional Services values your role in breaking the cycle of crime - in making rehabilitation work Thank you Together we can strengthen a social compact against crime, for a better life