New plans to ease jail crowding

2005-09-14 21:10

Pretoria - Organisations should co-operate to reduce overcrowding in prisons, according to speakers at a conference on Wednesday.

Silas Ramaite, deputy national director of public prosecutions, said co-operation, communication and co-ordination of law enforcement and justice bodies would greatly help the overcrowding problem.

"The provision of adequate human resources alone will not solve the problem. Improved communication is more likely to do that."

Ramaite said criminal justice had to be viewed as a whole, consisting of courts, law enforcement and social organisations, when trying to solve problems such as overcrowding.

"Long-term solutions will need to be instituted to solve these problems as ad hoc solutions work only in the short-term."

He said that making the cases of prisoners awaiting trial for more than six months a priority and using summonses to secure defendants' presence in court rather than imprisonment, could help ease overcrowding in jails.

Non-custodial sentences mooted

Anton du Plessis, head of the crime and justice programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said South Africa faced the challenge of responding to crime without infringing on human rights, and maintaining a balance between law enforcement and preventive measures.

Earlier, the conference heard that overcrowding in prisons could be reduced by non-custodial sentences.

"Non-custodial sentences should be considered in some cases as convicts tend to pick up more criminal habits in prisons and are likely to return if released," said African Union special rapporteur on prisons, Professor Victor Dankwa.

Leading them from crime

He said the training of prosecutors, judges and magistrates should include enabling them to help when a non-custodial sentence was appropriate.

"NGOs (non-governmental organisations) such as faith-based ones have reported having a positive influence on convicts, leading them away from a life of crime," said Dankwa.

He said similar interventions by other NGOs and business should be considered to enable prisoners to turn from crime and establish a place for themselves in society once they were released.

- SAPA