IFP: RELEASING DEATH ROW INMATES 'OUTRAGEOUS'

Good heavens! Clearly the government has lost the plot! How does anyone with any semblance of a brain cell, think that it is ok to release people who were on death row (obviously for really bad stuff that they did) simply because you have a shortage of space because 'crime is out of control'? It is obvious that his first priority is to keep 'crime out of control'. What an incredibly stupid thing to even consider - clueless!

IFP: Releasing death row inmates 'outrageous'
January 04 2007 at 05:21PM

The proposed release of 62 former death row prison inmates is outrageous, Inkatha Freedom Party spokesperson Sybil Seaton said on Thursday. The SABC reported on Wednesday that eight prisoners who were formerly on death row will be freed this month. The prisoners are part of a group of 62, who have served their mandatory 20 year prison term. They were given an alternative life term imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished in 1995.

'As crime spirals out of control in our country we need more prisons...'

On Thursday, Seaton said she was dismayed and concerned at the news. "This is absolutely outrageous. The IFP feels that it is petty criminals, especially juveniles, who should be considered for release not people who are in prison serving life sentences for serious crimes."


This came shortly after Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour announced last year he was considering early parole for 300 lifers in an attempt to curb overcrowding in prisons. "The 300 prisoners will hardly make a dent in the overcrowding crisis South Africa is currently facing," Seaton said. "There's clearly a serious management problem here. As crime spirals out of control in our country we need more prisons, but the department of correctional services is failing in this important task. Last year, they neglected to use the allocated money that was given to them to build new prisons, which is totally unacceptable."

Seaton suggested that if Balfour and his colleagues "are so desperate to ease the overcrowding problem", they should start byknocking on the door of Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, who in the past three years had done nothing to review the cases of 384 IFP political prisoners who had applied for Presidential Pardons.If she could start on that any time soon, maybe Minister Balfour might have a few more prisoners he can set free in 2007," Seaton said. - Sapa