When many of us hear the words ‘house arrest’ we can be forgiven for thinking of a scenario in a Tyler Perry movie where Madea, a female character played by Tyler has an electronic tag around her ankle which beeps notifying the police when she moves outside her area.
House arrest and home confinement are part of community corrections, a strategy that can help prevent the growth of the prison industrial complex.
Recently, journalist Jackie Phamotse received her sentence for defaming Basetsana and Romeo Khumalo. Jackie’s sentence included house arrest for two years. This led to many people questioning what house arrest entails in South Africa, as it is not a common thing.
We hope that at the end of this article, we will have clarified what the South African version of house arrest is.
Firstly, it is important to understand that correctional services centres are overcrowded, making it extremely difficult to keep everyone who has done others wrong or broken the law.
Contrary to house arrest not understood by some mzansi citizens, it has been practised for over 60 years. Political activist Helen Joseph was the first person to be put under house arrest on 13 October 1962, shares South African History Online.
Many might want to know, who gets the house arrest sentence? The answer to this is, that it’s given to a person who does not pose a risk to the community, shares Sabinet African Journal. The information hub adds, “Other important factors which must be taken into account include the type of employment of the probationer and their working hours in order to accommodate them in this regard.”
Besides being allowed to go to work, probationers are also allowed to participate in cultural and sporting activities, attend funerals, and church and do some shopping.
This basically means that their movement is limited to the few stipulated places that are known by prison officials, there is also a time they are to remain in their homes. Any other movement that is outside what is known must be applied for and approved by the officials.
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