Oscar Pistorius Moved To Another Prison To Aid Rehabilitation

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has been moved from a detention centre to a correctional centre, South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirmed on Monday.The department said the move came after a very careful consideration of all important factors, that the management decided that the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre near Pretoria was the best place to accommodate Pistorius.

The correctional centre is used to accommodate offenders sentenced from 0-6 years and has rehabilitation and development programmes in place for all offenders in its care.

Since his incarceration, Pistorius was placed at the Remand Detention Centre which is used to accommodate awaiting trials and sentenced offenders who need full time hospitalisation or health care.

This was done in order to accommodate his disability needs.

“However, the Remand Detention Centre does not have rehabilitation and development programmes necessary for sentenced offenders as it is strictly designed for awaiting trial detainees,”

the department said.

The Atteridgeville Correctional Centre has been upgraded to accommodate disabled offenders, according to the department. The move will enable Pistorius to engage in departmental rehabilitation programmes which are tailored according to the offenders’ needs and length of his sentence.

These programmes are key in terms of rehabilitating the offending behaviour and do play a crucial role when one is considered for parole placement.

Pistorius’ transfer was said to have been purely due to his application which was lawfully considered and approved with disability.

In July this year, the High Court in Pretoria handed down a six-year sentence to Pistorius for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, nine years less than the mandatory guideline.