Parolees prefer prison life
Christopher Munnion, Johannesburg - May 1, 2007
SOUTH African convicts freed on parole are clamoring to go back to prison because they cannot get jobs or the free anti-AIDS treatment they received in jail.
South African Prisoners Organization for Human Rights (Saphor) says "many thousands" of parolees are demanding to be allowed to return to their squalid, overcrowded prisons.
At a news conference in Johannesburg organized by Saphor, about 150 convicts said they could not find jobs and would be better off back inside.
They said they faced the stark choice of resorting to crime to feed themselves and their families or going back to prison.
"I cannot feed myself as there is no work," said Amos, convicted of theft. "Like most prisoners, I am suffering from AIDS and I can't get the free treatment I got inside … The only alternative for me is to go back to prison."
Others cited the onset of winter for their desire to return to the cells. "In the summer, I can sleep outside," said Sipho, a car thief. "It is too cold in winter. In prison there may be too many people but at least it is warm and we get hot meals."
Saphor organiser Golden Miles Bhudu said the demand of parolees to be readmitted was "a wake-up call" to authorities.
"They must ensure they put into place a policy to ensure the smooth integration of these offenders into society," he said.
In theory, most prisoners on parole have been convicted of minor offences — theft and crimes without violence. Yet armed robbers and even murderers get parole, to ease overcrowding in prisons, where more than 40 per cent of inmates have HIV or AIDS.
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