Rehabilitation of inmate young offenders and the education system:Offenders’ perspective in South Africa

Abstract

Unemployment, lack of education and few opportunities are, but few of the factors that lead to young people in South Africa and elsewhere turning to crime. These young people face the law after being caught and they get incarcerated in the correctional service centres. It seems that many of educational programmes aimed at rehabilitating young inmate offenders seem not being effective as some of these young inmate offenders become hardened criminals through institutionalization in correctional service centres. This paper thus, explored the views of inmate young offenders of the benefits of educational programmes they derived while incarcerated in South Africa. The young inmate offenders‟ age ranged from 17 years to 27 years, 5 females and 8 males. A qualitative phenomenological research method was used with a sample of 6 inmate young offenders to describe young inmate offenders‟ views of benefits they derive from educational programmes in correctional centres. Based on the available and access to the participants a purposive sample was employed for this research study. An open-ended questionnaire instrument which contained a set of a variety of questions on benefits of educational programmes were completed by the research participants. To conduct this study in line with ethical considerations, permission was given by the university‟s ethical committee and later the Department of Correctional Services allowed the study to be conducted in their correctional centres. Data that was thematically analysed discovered educational programmes offered and availed to inmate young offenders to be beneficial. The study showed that although formal education was offered, the educational programmes faced many other challenges which were also mentioned in other studies and even in this study the offenders pointed them out, e.g. lack of resources and shortage of staff. The study also revealed that the rehabilitation programme played a critical role inreducing gang formation and fights in the entire inmate community. The collaboration of the state, community, family members of the offenders, churches, traditional leaders and non-profit organisations is required in rehabilitation of the IYO.