The growing crime rate and rise in life sentences meted out to offenders may mean that there won’t be enough beds for criminals in SA’s prisons.
The department of correctional services has conceded that it is worried about over-crowding which is on a steady rise, as evidenced by the latest shocking crime statistics.
The department is forced to be creative to deal with this dilemma and is looking at a host of measures to ease the “stubborn pressures of incarceration, forever increasing due to high crime levels”.
The department believes that the judiciary should consider other forms of punishment instead of sending all criminals to jail.
For example, less serious crimes should lead to a sentence of community correctional supervision, the department said.
It also wants a debate on whether incarceration is the most effective form of rehabilitation for some offenders.
Correctional services wants to review the cases of people who were arrested for mi
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