COMMISSIONER of Corrections Major Richard Reese has suggested that parole applicants be made to serve their sentences up to the latest date for release, giving prison officials adequate time to ensure offenders are prepared for re-entry into normal life.

The department’s executive director for community service, Shirley Johnson – who made the submission to the committee considering the Incest (Punishment) Act and the Offences Against the Person Act – said the request for a change in the current regime would further enhance the department’s rehabilitative function.

“The Commissioner asked that this be done as part of the treatment situation. We are looking at a specific treatment plan for persons like these but it’s not yet fully organised,” Johnson told the committee.

She said the commissioner was, however, in dialogue with overseas resource personnel who will be helping the department develop a specific treatment plan for sex offenders.

At present, convicts are given a third or a quarter off their sentences if there is good conduct. This is, however, dependent on whether there were previous offences. On the converse, extra months or days are added if there is a violation.

But the Corrections Department is now asking that the time given off be the period closest to release.

While not disregarding the suggestion, committee chair and Attorney General, Senator A J Nicholson, said such a suggestion could not be taken on instantly and recommended that it be passed on to the national security ministry to be developed further.

“It is not dead,” he explained. “I would need some more particulars…I believe that if you want this area to be considered when the Bill is to be passed this is an area the Ministry of National Security will have to develop fully.”

“I don’t know that I would want to take the Commissioner’s bare suggestions and ask the committee to consider them and place them in the Bill,” he told the Committee.

Committee member Sharon Hay-Webster agreed, saying it stood to reason as such a decision could be equal to “taking away a person’s rights”.

The Department, in the meantime, also suggested that a social enquiry report be requested on all offenders convicted of rape and other sexual offences so that the circumstances of the offence and the attendant issues can be thoroughly ventilated. It further recommended that treatment regimes be established to deal with particular behavioural problems posed by offenders. According to Johnson, while this is observed in practice, it has not been formalised and should be included in the relevant rules and regulations.

The Attorney General, in responding, said such a move would have to be “legislated” and considered at length as it was “not a usual thing in our jurisdiction”.

In the meantime, the Committee has adjourned until May 16 to consider final decisions arrived at over the past several weeks of deliberations after which it will present a report to both Houses of Parliament.