Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour’s plan to reduce the sentence of some prisoners could free ”potentially violent” individuals, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday.
At a Freedom Day rally in George, in the Western Cape, Balfour said categories of prisoners that qualified for the reduction have been ”carefully identified”.
The remission would not apply to convicted criminals who posed a threat to society, the minister said.
”Remission will not be unfettered. It will be linked to community corrections and supervision that will be carefully monitored. Any indication of abuse in it will result in the immediate reincarceration of such persons,” he said.
In a statement issued after Balfour’s speech, the DA said, ”While it is true that the prisons are very overcrowded and that many people are in prison simply because they cannot afford bail, it is also true that the department has neither the resources nor the people to operate an effective system of community corrections.
”What this means in effect is that potentially violent and unrehabilitated individuals may be released without any proper supervision”.
”In these circumstances, releasing people simply to make more space in our prisons is a slap in the face for victims of crime, and fatally undermines faith in the criminal justice system,” the party said. – Sapa