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In South Africa there is internationally accepted mechanism that allows for the conditional release of offenders from a correctional services into the community prior to the expiration of their entire sentences of imprisonment, as imposed by a court of law.
The mechanism is called PAROLE, these individuals are all the beneficiaries of this mechanism. As we all know that the function of correctional services is to rehabilitated offenders so that they can be intergraded back into the community upon successful serving of respective sentences. Offenders can get released under this mechanism for different reasons such as medical conditions, good behavior while in prison and so forth. Meet Tony Yengeni, He was found guilty of fraud relating to the arms deal and released on parole in 2007 after serving four months of his four year sentence. From South Africa's most populous province with an estimated 10 million people Kwazulu Natal, we meet a business man and former financial adviser of our current president Mr Jacob Zuma, Shabir Shaik. Mr Shaik was found guilty on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud. He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on each of the two counts of corruption and 3 years on the count of fraud. On 3 March 2009 Shaik was released on medical parole, after serving only two years and four months of his 15-year prison term. The police are primarily responsible for the maintenance of public order, prevention and detection of crimes in the state, Thus, the police enforce criminal law while maintaining law and order and also investigating crime. Former president of Interpol and national commissioner of the South African Police, Mr Jacky Selebi . On 10 September 2007, the National Prosecuting Authority issued a warrant of arrest for Selebi for corruption, fraud, racketeering and defeating the ends of justice. Mr Selebi was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. However, he was released on medical parole in July 2012 after serving only 229 days of his 15-year prison sentence. Racism refers to actions, practices or beliefs, or social or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. From the Capital city of our beloved city, Pretoria, we meet a group of four white young men, known as the waterkloof four. They were jailed for beating a homeless man to death in Pretoria. The four were found guilty and sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. The Waterkloof Four were released on parole after serving half their sentences. Two of whom we re-arrested after video footage of them partying in a prison cell was released. In general, the parole mechanism is being used here in South Africa but it is still unclear in terms of who actually gets a parole. One would ask if you need to be well known, have rich parents or connect to high ranking politicians to get parole. More is still to come as in coming years the parole mechanism still going to be put to test.
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