Abstract
The issue of overcrowding has become one of the major concerns within the
Department of Correctional Services in S.A. According to Judicial
Inspectorate of Prisons quoted in Annual Report (2002/2003:4) in 2002 the
South African offender population has been overpopulated by 72 000. The
236 correctional centres designed to accommodate 100 668 offenders were
accommodating 172 071.
The focus of this study is to explore the impact of prison circumstances in
perpetuating recidivism.
Glencoe correctional center is identified as the target centre. The total
offender population has been estimated at 950 with 650 offenders being
categorised as recidivists.
The conclusions were drawn and presented as follows:
• Peers have been found to be exercising a crucial role in
influencing the behaviour of the offenders. The impact of
this influence has been found to be posing a challenge
on both individual and family values.
• The impact of prison life manifested through processes
like the use of drugs, involvement in gangs and
identification with the prison life.
• The prison system has not been able to convince the
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offenders in terms of fighting crime. Lack of proper
security measures, lack of skills training interventions,
unemployability of the offender and lack of job
opportunities have been identified as challenges that
disqualify the prison system as an effective crime
prevention institution.
• Lack of personnel and lack of policy implementation
knowledge are some of the challenges associated with
the difficulty in evaluating the appropriateness of
rehabilitation programmes.
• Sustaining the prison subculture manifested through
processes such as identification with the negative role
models, purposeful alienation from the community and
condoning of violence.
• The family system has been identified as another
institution that contributes to the development of the
prison subculture.
• Family-related aspects were identified by the respondents
as an area affected by imprisonment.
• As indicated in by the theory of Kohlberg in Glick
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(1995:110), high levels of moral development would
serve to keep offenders from committing further crime.
• To promote offender’s readiness to face the societal life
from a positive point of view, there is a need for
assistance in drafting individual plans and strategies.
• The expectations of the respondents on effective offender
reintegration were shared and the relevant role-players
were identified.
Having drawn the conclusions, the following recommendations were made:
• The research focused on sociologically related factors
and as a result the need for further research, especially on
biologically related factors, emerged.
• The scope of the research widened to such an extent that
the contributory factors of recidivism were covered at a
more general level. Further research to cover the
individual factors in more depth is recommended.
• There is a need for structures to exercise advocacy
intervention on behalf of the offenders in such a manner
that they would have a say in issues affecting them.
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• Attendance of rehabilitation programmes and
demonstration of behavioural change should be awarded
in order to serve as a motivation for positive behaviour
change.
• The need for equipping prison officials to be effective
rehabilitators has been identified as a challenge to the
prison system.
• Integrated functioning of different role-players would
serve to promote effective offender reintegration.
• The offender needs to be assisted to
envision and plan for the future.
Mrs. H.F. Ellis