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 ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

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...

28/07/2026

LiveU's World Cup Support Breaks Company Records

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/07/2026

Encompass Selected by Channel 4 to Deliver Managed Linear...

Encompass Digital Media has been selected by Channel 4, one of the UK's public service broadcasters, to deliver managed linear playout services as part of a...

28/07/2026

Cinegy partners with SAMA Digital Media Solutions to sati...

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has confirmed a new partnership with leading Korean systems integrator and distribu...

28/07/2026

Limecraft Adds Multicam Player and Audio Fingerprint-Base...

Limecraft today announces version 2026.5 of its AI-powered production platform. Limecraft 2026.5 https://(www.limecraft.com/limecraft-2026-5-multicam-quad-view-...

28/07/2026

Appear powers first large-scale 4k FIFA World Cup viewing...

X Platform technology enabled a premium UHD viewing experience through a hybrid ground-to-cloud architecture developed with Chilevisi n, ClaroVTR and Pixop App...

28/07/2026

LiveU Delivers Record-Breaking LIQ and Cloud Service Depl...

LiveU, the pioneer in IP-video transmission and cloud-based remote production, today announced it has set historic performance records during the 2026 World Foo...

28/07/2026

DHD Releases New Firmware and Options for its Audio Produ...

dhd.audio announces that its latest generation firmware, Version 10.4, is now available to DHD customers. Version 10.4 introduces expanded configuration capabil...

28/07/2026

Study: TV Operating Systems Gain Influence Over Viewing

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/07/2026

Maryland Public Television Promotes Ling Ling Sun to CTO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/07/2026

NUGEN Audio Helps Mix Technician Blake Bunzel Deliver Rel...

Brand's Intuitive Metering and Dialogue Tools Improve Efficiency and Maintain Clarity Across Projects Ranging from Sitcoms to Effects Heavy Fantasy Series ...

28/07/2026

TAG Video Systems Accelerates the Move to Cloud and Virtu...

TAG Video Systems, a leader in 100% software-based realtime media monitoring, multiviewing and quality control (QC), today announced the latest innovations to i...

28/07/2026

Harvard Athletics Transforms Collegiate Sports Storytelling with AJA Gear

Harvard Athletics Transforms Collegiate Sports Storytelling with AJA Gear Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Between the maturation of IP and remot...

28/07/2026

New Live Action Projection Mapping Film Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF

New Live Action Projection Mapping Film Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Large format sensor allows Texas Legacy ...

28/07/2026

NVIDIA Agent Toolkit Expands With New Omniverse Libraries, Putting AI Agents to Work Building Simulation-Ready Worlds

NVIDIA Agent Toolkit Expands With New Omniverse Libraries, Putting AI Agents to ...

28/07/2026

AI Agents Expand Creative Tools to Millions

AI Agents Expand Creative Tools to Millions Brie Clayton July 27, 2026 0 Comments Hero image courtesy of Epic Games Leading creative applications are...

28/07/2026

How Rick Aggeler Built a Music Community for Boston Teens

How Rick Aggeler Built a Music Community for Boston Teens When he was a Berklee student, Aggeler volunteered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, where he hel...

28/07/2026

Are you coming to the Fleadh? RT will be there

RT Raidi na Gaeltachta, RT Radio 1, RT One and RT Player to showcase the best of the reels, rhymes and rambles from Comhaltas Fleadh Cheoil na h ireann 202...

28/07/2026

RT to broadcast The Irish Question

Through a wide range of perspectives, this documentary looks at how Ireland might navigate one of the defining political questions of the future Wednesday, Jul...

27/07/2026

AES Educational Foundation Announces 2026/2027 Scholarship and Grant Recipients

The Audio Engineering Society Educational Foundation has named its scholarship and grant recipients for the 2026/2027 academic year. The awards support students...

27/07/2026

ESPN and MEAC Reach Multi-Year Media Rights Agreement Through 2030-31

ESPN and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) have signed a multi-year media rights agreement covering basketball championships and select football and ba...

27/07/2026

Yahoo Sports and Cameo Integrate Celebrity Video Bookings into Yahoo Fantasy

Yahoo Sports and Cameo have partnered to allow fantasy football users to book personalized celebrity videos directly within the Yahoo Fantasy app and website. T...

27/07/2026

Eutelsat to Receive $504 Million in FCC Upper C-Band Transition Payments

Eutelsat has welcomed the FCC's order establishing the regulatory framework for the transition of Upper C-band spectrum in the United States. Under the orde...

27/07/2026

ESPN Acquires U.S. and International Rights to International Dance League

ESPN and the International Dance League (IDL) have signed a global rights agreement for the 2026 season. Events will air bi-weekly on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET beginni...

27/07/2026

NBCUniversal and YouTube Announce Multi-Year Global Partnership

NBCUniversal and YouTube have signed a multi-year global partnership that includes bundling Peacock with YouTube Premium, extending NBCUniversal's distribut...

27/07/2026

Two Weeks Away: 2026 SVG Venues & Teams Summit at Miamis Kaseya Center To Reunite In-Stadium Production Community

Agenda includes presentations from the Miami Heat, Inter Miami, Florida Panthers...

27/07/2026

Behind The Mic: CBS Sports Bolsters College Football Analyst Team

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...

27/07/2026

PBR Goes Animated With BS: Bull Stories, Giving Its Bucking Bulls a Voice

Ten one-minute shorts will roll out across CBS, The CW, Paramount+ during the 2026 PBR Teams season PBR is officially moving into scripted animation. The Profe...

27/07/2026

Vochlea announce DubBox

New app turns vocal percussion into polished loops Vochlea, the company behind the voice-to-MIDI instrument Dubler 2, have just announced the launch of a ne...

27/07/2026

Sonora Cinematic launch Pure 12-String for Soundbox

Latest MPE-capable instrument completes Pure Trilogy line-up Sonora Cinematic have just released the third and final instalment in their series of acoustic ...

27/07/2026

fedDSP introduce Opto compressor plug-in

Emulates four varieties of optical compression The latest addition to the fedDSP line-up has just been announced, and packs four distinct optical compressor...

27/07/2026

Drawmer reveal the OC1 & FC1

Optical & FET compressors join 500-series line-up At our recent GearExpo UK show, we heard from Drawmer that they would soon be launching a pair of new 500-...

27/07/2026

T-Mobile Tops Ookla's Mobile Network Rankings

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

Pebble to Feature Virtualization, Cloud-Based Playout Tech at IBC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

NBCU Telemundo Turns To Chyron PRIME 5 For World Cup Graphics

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/07/2026

Lightware Adds SNMPv3 Monitoring to Taurus Devices

Lightware announces SNMPv3-based monitoring support for selected Taurus devices, available from firmware v1.20.0. The update enables IT administrators and AV in...

27/07/2026

Mediagenix Showcases the Real-Time Media Enterprise at IB...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase its vision for the Real-Time...

27/07/2026

Official trailer: Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars in Sky Original supernatural thriller Possession

All episodes available Thursday 6 August on Sky and streaming service NOWMonday ...

27/07/2026

Seven paradoxes shaping the next era of media production - Episode 4

Why Confidence MattersIn this series, we explore the technologies, architectures and operational realities shaping modern media operations. Along the way, we ex...

27/07/2026

Apple brings AppleCare One to the UK, streamlining coverage - UPDATE - Posted on 27 July 2026

Apple today announced AppleCare One - a new way for customers to protect multipl...

27/07/2026

944,000 VIEWERS WATCH RT'S COVERAGE OF MAYO'S HISTORIC WIN, AFTER A 75 YEAR WAIT TO LIFT THE SAM MAGUIRE

Yesterday witnessed truly memorable scenes in Croke Park, bringing the curtain d...

27/07/2026

SES Statement On FCC Upper C-band Auction Decision

Luxembourg, July 27, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, issued the following statement following the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approval...

27/07/2026

Industry Leaders Unite in Open Secure AI Alliance for AI Safety and Security

Open source software is a critical pillar of the global economy. It underpins cloud computing, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, government...

26/07/2026

Audio Vivid: A New Destination for Immersive Audio

What is Audio Vivid? A New Destination for Immersive Audio Over the past several years, immersive audio has evolved from a niche production consideration into a...

26/07/2026

NVIDIA Harnesses Vera CPU to Speed Up Design of Next-Generation CPUs and GPUs

The complexity of modern chip design continues to grow as engineering teams work to develop increasingly sophisticated CPUs, GPUs and AI systems. To help meet t...

25/07/2026

Vochlea introduce DubBox

New app turns vocal percussion into polished loops Vochlea, the company behind the voice-to-MIDI instrument Dubler 2, have just announced the launch of a ne...