Community Reintegration of Offenders at an Overcrowded Rural Correctional Facility: Work Experiences of Correctional Officials

Refiloe Legodi and Misheck Dube ()
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Refiloe Legodi: Department of Social Work, Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng 2745, South Africa
Misheck Dube: Department of Social Work, Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng 2745, South Africa

Social Sciences, 2023, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Community reintegration of offenders is one of South Africa’s methods of rehabilitating offenders who have served a portion of their sentence in a correctional centre. However, overcrowding in the rural correctional facilities that have limited resources have exposed the correctional officials to enormous work-related challenges. This paper discusses the work-related challenges experienced by correctional officials at Rooigrond Correctional Centre, a rural correctional centre in North West Province in South Africa. This study employed a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design to capture the challenges experienced by correctional officials during reintegration of offenders at Rooigrond Correctional Centre. Due to the different ranks of the correctional officials who participated in the study, a quota sampling technique was used to involve ten correctional officials in face-to-face interviews. Thematic data analysis was used, which showed that correctional officials experience a plethora of challenges which have an impact on work and personal levels. This paper makes significant conclusions and recommendations to improve the work-related experiences of the correctional officials in overcrowded, low-resourced rural correctional facilities.

Keywords: work experiences; community reintegration; correctional officials; low-resourced correctional centre; challenges; Rooigrond (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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