Young in Prison The Gift of Second Chances

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WORDS Stine Kristensen

As shocking as it may sound, the chance of reoffending in South Africa is 90% according to Clinton Osbourn, programme manager at Young in Prison (YiPSA). Young in Prison is a non-profit organisation that helps rehabilitate young people who have been to prison so that they can go back to school, get a job and start afresh.

So why waste a lot of money on demanding rehabilitation programmes if 90% of those who have been in rehabilitation go back to crime? That was the question I asked myself when I first started writing this article. As I sat on the train on my way to YiPSA, I wondered what it was going to be like. Will I see fighting or yelling, will they be aggressive? Neither of these happened. YiPSA is such a great place, with warm, friendly people.

Some of the paintings that the boys made for their art exhibition. Photo: Stine Kirstensen

The office in Salt River is called a post-release office, where the post-release programme is offered to former prisoners. The former prisoners are around 18–25 years old, and few are younger than 18. YiPSA goes out to prisons and informs inmates about their organisation, but it’s up to the prisoners to actually apply to the programme. The acceptance of former prisoners to the programme is not contingent on a specific set of criteria. Any former prisoners who apply to the programme will be accepted. The men and women who choose to be part of the post-release programme do it out of their own free will. They get up every morning, Monday to Thursday to take the train or bus to Salt River to participate in the programme. Currently, YiPSA has around 20 people in the post-release programme. As a result of various sponsors, YiPSA provides those in the programme with transport money and food every day.

Post-release programmes are not mandatory for all released prisoners because if everyone had to participate, the chance of recidivism would be much higher. It is difficult to force a change in the mind-set of former prisoners if they’re not willing to change themselves, says Clinton, the programme manager.

As Clinton showed me around, I saw a few boys who were writing a rap song, while three other guys were working on an art exhibition of paintings they painted. The art was exhibited on 4 December at the 6 Spin Street gallery. I got the impression that YiPSA places a great deal of emphasis on creativity and critical thinking. As the programme is not gender specific, both men and women participate in the same activities; music, art, drama or creating a comic book. Critical thinking is important so that former prisoners become self-aware and hopefully stay away from crime. YiPSA also hosts debates on various social issues like the moral code of society. They don’t have specific teaching and reading classes, but they do provide individual reading or writing classes if someone is experiencing difficulties. At the moment, they have many who go to night school. As part of the rehabilitation programme, YiPSA prepares former prisoners to find a job. They prepare them for interviews; assist them with compiling a CV and writing reference letters.

Many of the boys are looking for jobs, while others work on the art exhibition. Photo: Stine Kirstensen

YiPSA offers three different programmes. They offer the rehabilitation programme where they go to prisons and host workshops. They also offer the reintegration programme and advocacy programme where they educate people about YiPSA through exhibitions, social dialogues and school presentations. YiPSA works closely with the Department of Correctional Services where the local branch of the Department, Community Corrections, deals with former prisoners on parole.

The programme does not have a specific end date. Many come and stay for a long time while others stay for a short time, depending on how long it takes for them to get to a point where they’re ready to move on and have found a job.

I asked Clinton if they teach the men and women right from wrong. I thought that was an obvious question requiring an obvious answer, but the answer he gave was actually quite surprising. ‘We don’t teach or tell people what’s wrong or right, because what’s right for one person might be wrong for another. We try to talk to them by having debates and making them self-aware,’ he says. And how about measuring the level of YiPSA’s success? Clinton continues, ‘If we say, don’t go back to prison, is that success? Or if they develop a better relationship with their family or if they’re able to make better decisions or find a job, is that success? There are a lot of different kinds of success really, so it’s hard to say what success really is.’

Many former prisoners have been able to find a job or have gone back to school. Young in Prison believes in giving offenders a second chance. Second chances are very important in making the world a better place.

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