A special Youth Day visit for inmates
THE Polokwane Correctional Services Centre held a Youth Day celebration recently. The event was aimed at not only celebrating Youth Day, but also concentrated on the rehabilitation of offenders.
Vella Nyoni
POLOKWANE – THE Polokwane Correctional Services Centre held a Youth Day celebration recently. The event was aimed at not only celebrating Youth Day, but also concentrated on the rehabilitation of offenders. They were joined by children from Childline and troubled young people under the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders Diversion programme.
The young people had the opportunity to visit the cells and interact with the inmates to see what a life behind bars would be like. This is done to discourage young people from committing crimes.
Two of the visiting teenagers shared their thoughts over the experience with CV.
Piet Mailula said this was not a place he would like to end up. “I do not want to end up in a place like this. I was hurt when I saw how they were living. I want to change and be a better person,” he said.
Daiz Rasakanya, who was visibly shaken by the experience, said: “I do not want to come back here, it is the worst place anyone can end up in. These people don’t seem happy, they are not free like us”.
The award winning gospel singer, Winnie Mashaba, also attended the celebration. She sang for the inmates and gave them words of encouragement.
“We all make mistakes, and just because you made a mistake and ended up in jail does not mean God doesn’t love you. He loves you and we also love you. You can change your life and start all over again, but you have to be willing to change. Don’t leave here and make the same mistake that landed you in here,” Mashaba said to the inmates.
Correctional services area commissioner, Kenneth Mthombeni, said they wanted children to know that there was no luxury in prison and to instill the notion that inmates did not get five-star treatment. “Our duty is to rehabilitate offenders so that we can reintegrate them into society and we are also saying that rehabilitation is a societal responsibility. Particularly interesting today is that we have around 20 children attending and we gave them an opportunity to see the real correctional centre facility and I could see tears from their eyes,” said Mthombeni.
The correctional facility houses more than 1 000 offenders of both sexes, who committed serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery and rape. Some are serving life sentences. There are also babies who stay with their convicted mothers.
