Prison authorities asked the Law Society of the Northern Province on Friday to help some awaiting-trail prisoners and those eligible for parole to be released in an attempt to ease overcrowding in prisons.
Speaking at a conference of the society, Johan Wilkens, acting regional head of corrections in Gauteng, said prisons in the province were 171% full.
”We have space for 25 347 prisoners and currently we have 43 227 incarcerated,” he said.
This include about 2 279 juveniles awaiting trial.
He said there were many examples of prisoners who had their bail set at less than R1 000 who could not afford to pay. It is such prisoners that he wanted the attorneys to assist.
The attorneys also heard from Carla Veenendal of the Legal Aid Board, who was proposing the increased used of restorative justice and alternative sentencing.
”The mountain to climb is not so much convincing defence lawyers that they should use restorative justice as a point of departure in arguing for alternative sentences, but in convincing magistrates that alternative sentencing is not a softer option,” she said.
”Although magistrates are undergoing training in this regard, it is very difficult to change the mindset of prosecutors-turned-magistrates and get them to see that it is viable and enforceable,” she added.
Some alternative sentences she proposed included compensation, unpaid work outside prison that was of some service to the community, correctional supervision or treatment.
She said there were dozens of examples of alternatives to sending offenders to prison.
”We should punish offender like we do our children. But there are different ways of doing it,” she said. — Sapa