Safe spaces in government buildings that are not in use or those correctional centres that are underpopulated are options for government to send low-risk offenders to complete their sentences, rather than releasing them into society.
This is according to Professor Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Dr Karen Booyens of the Department of Social Work and Criminology at the University of Pretoria. Here is their commentary on government's planned prisoner paroles:
The release of offenders during the Covid-19 crisis is not unique to SA — many countries have pardoned thousands of prisoners in order to convert prisons into medical facilities or to create social distancing. The global trend is to pardon low-risk offenders and those whose end of term is in sight, and to process the bail applications of remand detainees.
Another concern is whether low-risk offenders will return to crime. Many are from impoverished communities and have committed economic crimes to provide for their families. With unemployment on the rise and restricted economic activity as a result of Covid-19 coupled with a criminal record, these offenders may find it difficult, if not impossible, to find a job — which may lead to them committing the very crime for which they were initially incarcerated.
For a long time in SA, prisons were used to lock away offenders and isolate them from society. Restorative justice, the latest punishment philosophy in the SA criminal justice system, takes a different approach.
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