Parole and restorative justice

….The major provisions in the new law are:

The division of responsibilities between the probation services (that will be responsible for parole and victim support) and the correctional services (that will address the care and re-integration aspect of the offender).

The setting up of new boards, namely:

The Offender Assessment Board, responsible to design a care plan for prison inmates and to make recommendations to the Parole Board;

The Parole Board, an autonomous body responsible to decide whether to grant parole or not to the eligible inmate when the eligibility date is due;

The Remission Board, responsible for deciding on the award, forfeiture and awarding back remission days forfeited;

The Victim-Offender Mediation Committee, responsible to provide mediation as a means of reparation for both the victim and the offender. A shift in the correction services from one based on punitive measures to one based on incentives for those offenders by means of a care and rehabilitative programme devised for them.

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