Rehab, reintegration key to turning around inmates

Pretoria - Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele says rehabilitation and reintegration of convicts is central to his department attaining its goal of turning around inmates.

Addressing the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday during the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) budget vote policy debate, Ndebele said: “Central to imprisonment is not the removal of a person from normal, unhindered membership of society.
“It is not just the grim and stoical doing time. It is not even regret and remorse. What is central is rehabilitation and reintegration as a better human being,” he said.
Ndebele said society and corrections could do much more, but everything depended on what the offender did to change.

“Offenders must use their time in a correctional centre to discover their real talents and capabilities,” he said.

At least 95 percent of those incarcerated return to society after serving their sentence.
Ndebele said they were turning correctional centres into centres of learning. He urged inmates to read, study and work.

“We must impact the hearts, heads and hands of offenders,” Ndebele said.

Offenders give back
According to Ndebele, the latest National Offender Population Profile (September 2012), the major crime categories were economic, aggressive, sexual and narcotics.
Gauteng had the largest share of the sentenced offender population at 23.21 percent, while the Eastern Cape had the lowest (12.14 percent), KwaZulu-Natal (18.76 percent), the Limpopo/Mpumalanga/North West (LMN) region (15.7 percent), the Northern Cape/Free State region (15.07 percent) and Western Cape (15.41 percent).
In terms of unsentenced offenders, Gauteng had the highest number (28.81 percent), while the LMN Region had the lowest (11.25 percent), Eastern Cape (12.17 percent), KwaZulu-Natal (18.85 percent), Northern Cape/Free State (11.34 percent) and Western Cape (21.59 percent).
Numerous rehabilitation and reintegration programmes were being rolled out in provinces.
In Gauteng, learners in conflict with the law were taken on tours to correctional centres as a crime prevention measure.
Inmates, parolees and ex-offenders are utilised to intensify crime awareness campaigns in schools, encouraging learners to pursue a crime-free life.
Through the Organic Crop Circles Project, offender labour is used to encourage communities to feed themselves.
At schools in the Soweto and Johannesburg South areas, produce is supplied to school feeding schemes.  At the Helen Joseph Hospital, parolees/probationers serve as administrators and porters assisting patients.
Through the Clean Sweep Jo’Burg Project, offenders clean the inner city, including train tracks.
In the Free State/Northern Cape region, offenders clean state institutions such as schools and clinics. Winters jackets are being sewn from off cuts, and handed to disadvantaged communities and street kids.
Land was donated by a member of the Edenburg community and it is being used to plant vegetables by offenders. The produce is donated to disadvantaged community members.
Offenders are making coffins for families who cannot afford coffins. Officials donate, on an annual basis, school uniforms and shoes, to Madikane and Louwryville Primary schools. – SAnews.gov.za

Drug Centre to be opened in Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

The Gauteng Department of Social Development will officially open a centre for rehabilitation of drugs and alcohol abuse on Friday.

The centre is situated at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto and is the first initiative of its kind. The centre is available to those 18 years and older and is for those who cannot afford the more expensive rehabilitation centres.

The MEC of Gauteng Department of Social Department, Faith Mazibuko speaking on Morning Live, says the centre is the first of its kind because the department never saw it as a priority until the outcry in Eldorado Park, where the department saw the real ravages of drug abuse.

She says the department has a lot of other programmes to discourage young people from taking drugs and various communities have local drug action committees that do awareness campaigns and involve parents and communities in assisting to spread awareness.

The centre will offer detoxification programmes that will ensure young people learn life skills, psychosocial support therapy and  allow parents to be involved so that rehabilitation can be successful.

The Department plans to open rehabilitation centres in other areas and also plans to open half-way houses to support people once they have left the rehabilitation centres..

Alcohol Kills People

Alcohol is a disease that can ultimately kill you if left untreated. We can joke about it all we want, and yes, when you have not suffered the immense consequences of alcohol addiction, it can be funny, however when you watch a loved one slowly fade away because of this disease or you yourself slowly lose any understanding of who you are...

This is really the truth. Alcohol addiction is insidious and the true devastating effects might not become evident until it’s too late. There are many functional alcoholics in the world, but eventually their addiction catches up with them and their families.

In order for you to avoid the devastation that alcoholism can wreak on your life and the lives of your loved ones, you should get the treatment needed to help you kick your addiction and take back control of your life. It won’t be easy, but it will probably be one of the most important things you can do in your life.

Many people are oblivious to the many disadvantages that alcohol carries. An example of this is where the same person who only enjoys drinks socially can start to develop an intense resistance to the consumption of alcohol. In conventional cases the person who absorbs an amount of alcohol will have it immediately hit the bloodstream and it will then be transported to various points in the body. Delusional thinking and hallucinations will be a direct side effect of too much alcohol consumption. This is why, among other reasons, it is never recommended to drive while intoxicated.

ASK FOR HELP

Relapse Prevention offers the best treatment for this disease. There is help out there!!!

Cat On Cocaine - A True Story

Here's as true story...

A cat was found in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, high on cocaine and benzodiazepines.

Double Bay clinic admitted an eight month old Himilayan cat with dialated pupils as well and a racing heart. The Cat was found locked up in a cupboard overnight, according to a Fairfax newspaper.
The cat was acting very strangely; pacing around and jumpy. Apparently inserting a thermometer into its rectum also made the cat anxious (I don't blame him, do you?).

After speaking to the owner's wife, the vet was informed that the cat might have licked one of the 'cocaine plates' served at a party the night before.
The owner had to go through counseling, after which he was able to take the cat home. No legal action was taken.

Moral of the story? Wash your cocaine plates after you're done with them... but seriously... if you're throwing cocaine parties, you're way too rich and need some help.