Can you understand why CPFs are pissed off as hell with your department?
I've asked for answers to what they're saying about the failure to consult community structures. I'm awaiting responses from the national commissioner.
So you agree that stakeholder groups do need to be consulted before the department of correctional services (DCS) releases 5,300 prisoners back into their communities?
That's why we have mediation processes where the community is invited to express its views on what should be done with people who are eligible for parole. If there are structures like CPFs, they ought to be consulted.
And now you want to know why this hasn't been happening?
According to meetings I've attended and reports I've heard, local structures are consulted, they do participate in proceedings where they indicate how they feel about the imminent release of these people.
Why is the chair of the national community policing forum so adamant that there was no consultation with CPFs about their release?
The DCS will say that in places where such structures are known and visible they do consult them.
Is there a breakdown in communication between the political leadership and officials in DCS?
It's only the chairperson of the national community policing forum who says they've not been consulted. I've yet to hear from the regional commissioner.
It's not only the national chair. CPFs in the worst-hit communities on the Cape Flats say there was no consultation before these criminals were unleashed on them.
It is our policy that everybody who is an interested stakeholder has to be consulted. If it is not being followed then I expect answers from the department.
The CPFs say there's an increase in gang fights and shootings after prisoner releases and parolees are the main culprits. Why aren't they properly monitored?
Parolees are members of families, of communities and of society. Each of these elements has a responsibility to ensure that criminality is not a way of life.
Isn't the onus on the DCS to ensure that parolees adhere to parole conditions?
Yes, it is our responsibility as a department to ensure that the criminals we unleash onto society are properly rehabilitated and monitored to ensure they don't revert to a life of crime.
Is it time to take a hard look at your rehabilitation programmes?
We continue to do that.
One hundred and thirteen criminals released into these communities last year reoffended, committing four murders among other crimes. Does that mean the system is not working?
It means they're cheating the system, not necessarily that the system is not working.
Should you be releasing criminals if there aren't enough parole officers to monitor them?
If you keep people in our centres when they're entitled to be released you don't know what the courts might say. It's a difficult one, because our prisons are overcrowded.
Is this the real reason so many are being paroled? Not because they're ready but because you don't have space for them?
It would be wrong for us to release people because of overcrowding. The main reason is that they are fit enough to lead normal lives as law-abiding citizens.
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