Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Thirty six percent of parolees from Cape Flats reoffend: DA demands a parole reform

DA has written to the National Commissioner of Correctional Services to request urgent reform of our current parole system. According to the DA, an existing, but ignored, policy position paper on parole boards must be issued and must be published by the Department of Correctional Services, so that Parliament can start the process to re-engineer the parole system to stop alarming levels of re-offending.

The Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, says up to thirty six-percent of parolees from the Cape Flats area of the Western Cape reoffend.

The minister said this in a written Parliamentary response that these parolees commit crimes that include murder and rape upon their release on parole.

According to the minister, 652 prisoners from the Cape Flats received parole last year.

One-hundred-and-eighty three of these reoffended and committed crimes that include seventeen murders and eleven rapes.

Groenewald says one of the reasons for the release of the parolees was a positive support system.

The DA reiterates a call for an urgent overhaul of parole policy with a risk-based assessment system that factors in community impact and bars early release for violent and firearm-related offenders unless strict rehabilitation and reintegration conditions are met.

 

Done By: Elona Sibunzi


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