Pretoria - The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has made an appeal for the privacy of offenders not to be invaded.
This follows numerous requests from various media houses for more detailed information on the placement of former paralympian Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision. His parole was approved by the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPB) on 15 October 2015 and he was released last night.
Pistorius is serving a five-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day.
The department on Tuesday said it was responsible for approximately 230 000 offenders and awaiting-trial persons, with about 51 963 parolees and 17 061 probationers under the system of community corrections.
“As per the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998, all persons subject to community corrections must be supervised in the community by correctional officials. Such supervision must not invade the privacy of the person concerned more than is necessary to ensure compliance with the conditions of the community corrections imposed.
“To this end, DCS does not publicly disclose specific details about individual offenders. As DCS has provided sufficient information on Pistorius, henceforth, no additional information on the said offender will be publicly disclosed,” the department said.
It reiterated that the decision by the Kgosi Mampuru II management to release Pistorius last night, rather than on his initial release date of 20 October, was not unusual and not preferential treatment.
“This was purely an operational decision taken by officials, and this is not the only case where this has happened. The implementation of decisions of the CSPB is the prerogative of the relevant operational officials.”
The department added that the sentence imposed by the courts, on persons subject to community corrections, is not reduced.
“It only affects the way in which a sentence will be served, which means part of the sentence may be served outside a correctional centre, under supervision of officials from DCS, and subject to certain conditions,” the department said.
Conditions relating to community corrections may stipulate, but are not limited to, that the person concerned is placed under house detention; does community service in order to facilitate restoration of the relationship between the sentenced offenders and the community; seeks employment; takes part in treatment, development and support programmes; is restricted to one or more magisterial districts; lives at a fixed address; refrains from using alcohol or illegal drugs; refrains from committing a criminal offence and refrains from visiting a particular place or making contact with a particular person or persons, among others.
All persons subject to community corrections must be supervised in the community by correctional officials.
“Offenders subject to community corrections are closely monitored, to ensure that they comply with their parole conditions,” the department said.
If a person subject to community corrections has failed to comply with any aspect of the conditions imposed on him or her, depending on the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance, that offender may be reprimanded or instructed to appear before the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board or arrested. – SAnews.gov.za
