Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Prison Journalism: Navigating Parole

23/02/2024

Prison Journalism: Navigating ParoleDean Mashimbwe, a Zimbabwean migrant residing in Cape Town, was incarcerated at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre from 2016 until 2017.

by Dean Mashimbwe

23-02-2024 08:16

in Prison Journalism

Prison. Image via unsplash

When I went to prison, I was supposed to stay in jail for 2 years, but there was a possibility for me to be released on parole if I attended programs, verified my address, and had a relative sign for me. However, my biggest challenge was that all my family was back in Zimbabwe, and I didn't have anyone to sign parole for me.

--

Unexpected Assistance and Release Conditions I thought it was just prison stories; little did I know my fellow Zimbabwean inmate was serious. So, he, who had shared his own experiences with me, went out of jail in November 2016. Upon his release, he graciously signed parole for me, enabling my release on 31 May 2017. I didn't even expect it when I was called by the parole body. As they gave me the date of my release, I was so glad that finally, I am going out of jail, but these are the conditions which work with my parole:

I must not commit an offence.

I must not possess an offensive weapon.

I must be under the supervision of a Community Corrections Officer.

I must obey any direction from the assigned Community Corrections Officer.

So, I was supposed to stay 2 years in jail, but after the parole, I only stayed 7 months of my sentence, so the rest I was going to finish outside. But this comes with a lot of conditions; you just don't go freely like you finished your sentence.

The Concepts and Types of Parole In this article, I will talk about the parole, what it is, and how it works, just in case there are people out there who don't know anything about it. I will also talk about some other means how someone can be released out of jail before their sentence is finished.

--

Alternative Routes to Early Release Besides parole, any inmate can be released freely in jail when the president commands that there is an amnesty.

There are 2 different types of parole: it's either a normal parole or a medical parole. A medical parole is given to an inmate whose health conditions are not suitable for the prison environment, while a full parole is a parole that is given to any inmate who qualifies for it. Inmates who have 10 years and above can only be granted parole when they serve half of their sentence, while others can only do 3-9 months then get parole.

Post-parole Adjustments and Support When I got parole, I didn't have a place to stay, so when I was out of prison, I had to call Celeste Van Est, a former Restore NGO volunteer, who took me to a shelter. She was always visiting me and made sure about my well-being. There is a big similarity between probation and parole because you're not allowed to commit any crime or else, you're being sent to jail if you break your parole conditions.

--

Parole Violations During the time I was in jail, I have seen a lot of people who would be released on parole, but after 2 weeks or so, they would come back to jail, the reason being a parole break. Once you break the parole, the prison will tell you to finish your sentence, and you're not given any chance for parole again.

Risks and Benefits of Parole According to what I observed, people who are likely to break the parole after being released are those people who go back to gang-related societies and those who are drug addicts and staying in the streets. And mostly, these people commit crimes such as murder.

I think offering paroles to inmates is a big advantage to the government as well as the prison management because it reduces overcrowding in jails as well as reducing costs such as food to give prisoners. But I think Paroles are also disadvantages because people always commit crimes knowing that they will be given parole and come back to jail.

DISCLAIMER: Submission published as received

Should you wish to assist in the rehabilitation of former inmates and help put money into the pockets of those who have struggled to earn a living during and after incarceration, click HERE

RESTORE is an NGO based in Cape Town, South Africa, providing inmates at Pollsmoor Prison with restorative justice opportunities.

If you have any questions you would like to ask our prison journalists, WhatsApp us on 060 011 0211.

Do you have contact with a prison inmate who would like to write for The South African website? If so, send an email to info@thesouthafrican.com or a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211.

You can also follow @TheSAnews on Twitter and The South African on Facebook to get the latest prison journalism articles.

Springboks v Wales at Twickenham: CLICK HERE for all the ticket information!
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/prison-journalism/navigating-p...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

07/07/2026

Comcast's Sky to Acquire ITV Media and Entertainment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems Details ATSC 3.0 EAS Capabilities to FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

New appointments to Screen Australia board

New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026 The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board. Dr Tania Chamber...

07/07/2026

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck to their creative guns.

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...

07/07/2026

July 06, 2026

Scripps Research scientists train the immune system to make antibodies against numerous HIV strains Preclinical findings mark progress toward a long-sought vacc...

06/07/2026

Inside OneSoccer's FIFA World Cup Ops: Canada's Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNT's Historic Moment

Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Acquires Imagine Communications, Continues To Build Portfolio of Media Businesses

The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...

06/07/2026

SVG All-Stars: Stuart Mitchell, Senior Coordinating Producer, Spectrum SportsNet LA

This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...

06/07/2026

Case Study: How IMS Productions and FOX Sports Scaled Coverage of the 109th Indianapolis 500

IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Completes Acquisition of Synamedias Video Network Business

Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...

06/07/2026

NASCAR and Motorsport Network Announce Content and Commercial Partnership

NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...

06/07/2026

Versant To Acquire Full Swing for Approximately $530 Million

Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...

06/07/2026

DAZN Secures Global Rights to 3ICE Hockey

DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...

06/07/2026

Synth Anthology 5 From UVI

Bundle gains 100 new synths & more Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...

06/07/2026

MOTU 16A, 848 & 10pre gain Milan certification

Available now via free firmware update MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...

06/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Communications System

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...

06/07/2026

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the quality of packaged goods in real time

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...

06/07/2026

INVITATION FOR SOUTH AFRICAN FILMMAKERS TO SUBMIT FILMS FOR THE 99TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS (OSCARS) INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

06/07/2026

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice President, Operations

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...

06/07/2026

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development Brie Clayton July 6, 2026 0 Comments The strategic new appointment supports...

06/07/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve Michael Cioni July 6, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...

06/07/2026

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro Colin Smith July 6, 2026 0 Comments Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...

06/07/2026

Flavor's FirstEver Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Executive Producer Kate Smith Rises to Lead the Studio

Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...

06/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...

06/07/2026

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with the first drop

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...

06/07/2026

NVIDIA and Hugging Face Bring New Models and Frameworks to LeRobot for the Open Robotics Community

Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...

06/07/2026

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy intellisphereinsyght2026 6 July Written By Suzanne Costello Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...

06/07/2026

Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a commercial streaming champion for the UK

Monday 6 July 2026 Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...

06/07/2026

Pico Lopes joins RT's FIFA World Cup 2026 Live panel

Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...

06/07/2026

How Nations Are Deploying AI for Strategic Priorities

Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...

06/07/2026

How Open Models Are Driving AI Research

Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work. This year's ...

06/07/2026

New RT documentary The Girl in the Water follows one family's search for answers following the death of their 23-year-old daughter

A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained What happened to Ke...

05/07/2026

Fox Sports AR/XR Studio Graphics Team Shows Power of Next-Generation Operations

We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...

05/07/2026

Free Behringer Synth Editor

Browser-based and desktop apps available Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...

04/07/2026

Inside OneSoccers FIFA World Cup Ops: Canadas Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNTs Historic Moment

When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...

04/07/2026

Rhodes to launch the MK8/80AE

Celebrates company's 80th anniversary Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...

04/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program Brie Clayton July 3, 2026 0 Comments Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...

04/07/2026

iZotope Joins Boris FX

iZotope Joins Boris FX Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026 0 Comments iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

03/07/2026

VSL reveal Synchron Brass (muted)

New bundle & three Single Packs Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...

03/07/2026

London Symphony Orchestra upgrade LSO St Luke's

Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...

03/07/2026

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV 3 July, 2026 Media releases National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...

03/07/2026

2023

1 February 2023 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...

03/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions Acquires BFE

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

AdClarity Expands CTV Offering to 20 Countries

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...