South Africa: parole backlog crisis looms

Human rights lawyers have threatened legal action against the Department of Correctional Services in a bid to force it to process outstanding parole applications of long-term prisoners whose rights they claim are being violated by the delays.

The move comes after Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha failed to deliver on his promise to address the backlog. Several organisations, including Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative and the National Institute for Crime and the Rehabilitation of Offenders, made presentations to Parliament’s justice and corrections portfolio committee last month, calling for an urgent response to resolve delayed parole applications and reform the daunting parole processes.

Clare Ballard, head of LHR’s penal reform programme, told City Press this week that the organisations were preparing to serve court papers on behalf of several hundred clients after the department failed to process prisoners’ applications.

They also want changes to the way the case management system worked. She said there had been a 3 000% increase in the number of inmates serving life sentences over the past 20 years owing to the introduction of a minimum sentencing procedure, causing a massive backlog in the number of applications for parole being processed by case management committees and the National Council of Correctional Services.

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