The DCS
The Department of
Correctional Services
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Select Committee on Security &
Constitutional Affairs
Transforming prisons into correctional centres places of new beginnings
April 2005
The DCS
The Department of
Correctional Services
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Assistance offered to community
corrections centres where prisoners
have been released and are ready to
be re-integrated to society
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
WHITE PAPER ON CORRECTIONS
The White Paper on Corrections makes provision
for:
 the preparation of offenders for their social
acceptance and reintegration into their
communities.
 commencing upon admission to completion of
sentence
 rebuilding the relationships between offenders and
their communities.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
Definition of reintegration
Reintegration refers to the ongoing process, in
which offenders are prepared for their ultimate
release and assisted to readjust to community life.
The successful reintegration of offenders into the
community is considered to be the ultimate aim of
their detention and development in correctional
centre. Consequently, the Department of
Correctional Services gives priority to actions
aimed achieving this objective.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
OBJECTIVES OF REINTEGRATION
The objectives of reintegration are to:
 Enable offenders to lead a socially responsible and crime-free
life while serving their sentences in the community.
Community corrections exercises supervision and control
over offenders.
 Involve society in community-based correctional matters by
encouraging them to provide employment and
accommodation to needy offenders.
 Ensure that offenders are successfully reintegrated into
society into the community.
 Offer financial and material assistance to offenders upon their
release and placement
 Provide job opportunities and obtain the co-operation of
employers with regard to the released offenders.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
REINTEGRATION POLICY
The Department fully recognizes that direct and
sudden release to the community after close
confinement can have an adverse effect on
offenders’ ability to reintegrate successfully , it
thus, attempts ,as far as possible , to equip
offenders with those skills required for their
effective reintegration into the community .
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2005/62009/10
The strategic plan makes provision for:
 different forms of material assistance
 development of needs based programmes
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
Establishing of curriculum vitae for offenders prior
to placement.
Obtain information from the Department’s
personnel who are assisting in them to find
employment.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
MATERIAL ASSISTANCE TO RELEASED OFFENDERS
Section 43 of the Correctional Services Act,
1998(Act 111 of 1998) makes provision sentenced
offenders to receive various forms of material
assistance upon release.
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medicine,
clothing ,
trade tools,
transport to their destination
advances that should accommodate direct needs
immediately after release.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
 Transfer
Section 43(1) of Correctional Services Act ,
1998(Act 111 of 1998) makes provision for offenders
to be transferred timeously to a correctional centre
nearest to their place of resettlement .
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
Section 45(1) of the Correctional Services Act, 1998(Act 111 of
1998) makes provision for offenders with sentences of more
than six months to be prepared for release. This section
makes it possible for offenders to participate in standard prerelease programme, which includes, among other things,
 Standard Pre-release Programme
 assistance with obtaining and maintaining employment,
 guidance on adjustment/adaptation problems, and
 information on the terms of parole.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
 PREPARATION FO RELEASE AND REINTEGRATION
INTO THE COMMUNITY
Commences six weeks prior to the offenders’
placement on parole.
 Accommodation
 Employment
 Pre-release programme
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
PRE-RLEASE INTERVIEW WITH OFFENDERS
The purpose of pre-release
 employment
 accommodation
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
EXTERNAL JOB INTERVIEW WITH
PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS
If the employer requires a personal
interview with offender before considering
him/her for employment, it is the
responsibility of community reintegration
official to make arrangements.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
ACCOMMODATION ARRANGEMENTS
Provision of accommodation - family, friends, and
even employers.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
 Programmes presentented in conjunction with:
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Social Workers
NGO’s,
FBO’s
CBO’s
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
COMMUNITY’S INVOLVEMENT IN REINTEGRATING
RELEASED OFFENDERS
 providing accommodation ;
 meeting and providing direct material needs such
as clothing;
 including the released offenders in social activities,
such sport; and
 assisting in monitoring the offender’s progress
after release.
Assistance offered to Community
Corrections Centres
CHALLEGES FACING COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS
Marketing of Correctional Supervision
Implementation of Section 62(f) of the Criminal Procedure Act,
1977
Lack of sufficient and suitable vehicles
Lack of sufficient and suitable vehicles
Inaccessibility of Community Corrections Offices
the dcs
Correctional Services values your role
in breaking the cycle of crime
- in making rehabilitation work
The Department of
Correctional Services
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Thank you
Together we can strengthen a social compact
against crime, for a better life