Prisons' job to rehabilitate

2003-05-26 20:16

Johannesburg - A prison sentence should serve a rehabilitation function in the life of an inmate, the Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said on Monday.

Popcru national spokesperson Pat Ntsobi said the length of a sentence should not be a determining factor for release. The extent to which the inmate had been rehabilitated should be decisive.

"Of course we are aware that there may be those prisoners who cannot be rehabilitated. Obviously those may not be part of the society," he said.

Ntsobi said overcrowding in prisons inhibits the rehabilitation programme.

"At the same time, we should not lose sight of the social factors, which led to some of these being convicted of the crimes that they committed. There should be a network that is ready to absorb the rehabilitated prisoners."

- SAPA