Jun/July 2014

GOSO NEWSLETTER
June/JULY 2014
Volume 1, Issue 1
Breaking the Cycle of Crime in South Africa
THE GRADUATION DAY!
Prisoners honour Madiba on
Mandela Day – They take a pledge
to stop the cycle of crime
Over 120 offenders at Zonderwater Correctional
Centers - Medium A and B, Cullinan, on Mandela
Day last year took a pledge to break the cycle of
crime in their families, communities and in South
Africa, in honour of former president of the
Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
The offenders participated in a very intense
training Get Out and Stay Out: (GOSO)
Overcoming Self-Imposed Limitations
programme, graduate and took a pledge to never
re-offend upon release.
Over 120 offenders graduate at
Zonderwater Centre A and B, in
the history of the centres.
Launching in South Africa
Get Out and Stay Out: Overcoming Self-Imposed
Limitations (GOSO) is a re-entry programme that
Professor Khalil Osiris launched in South Africa
on Nelson Mandela Day 2012 at Zonderwater
Correctional Centre, Pretoria. Osiris, an
internationally recognized restorative justice
practice and behavioural transformation expert
and a formerly incarcerated person who spent 20
years in prison is also founder of Martin Luther
King (MLK).
“Using a restorative justice approach, the
programme teaches that re-entry must focus on
victim awareness, offender accountability, and
community engagement,” Osiris said.
From Research to Practice. Criminal justice
research indicates that effective correctional
programmes address risk factors associated with
criminal behaviour. These risk factors are referred to as “criminogenic needs,” and professor
teaches offenders to understand their own and
work through them to be release ready.
“Criminogenic needs are attributes of offenders
that are directly linked to their criminal behaviour.
The GOSO re-entry programme teaches offenders how to use cognitive behavioural interventions to target their own criminogenic needs.
Since Osiris’ first lecture at Zonderwater
This instructional process is an evidence-based
Correctional Centre, on Mandela Day 2012, he
approach designed to equip and encourage ofhas implemented GOSO at medium A and B
fenders to take responsibility for reducing their
centers. Also, he has conducted a series of GOSO
risk of re-offending, thereby break the cycle of
re-entry lectures at numerous correctional centres
crime in their families and their communities,”
for members as well as offenders, including a
he said.
workshop for Gauteng correctional services
psychologists titled, Criminogenic Needs:
Story continues on page 2
VOICES ON GOSO
“Through GOSO, I realized it’s
never too late to take
responsibility for my actions,
and to ask for forgiveness from
my Creator, my victims and
quiet honestly, from myself!’
Inmate Freddy Kekana
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June/JULY 2014
Continues from page 1
“ On Nelson Mandela Day 2013, graduates at
Zonderwater medium A and B received certificates
for their successful completion of the GOSO re-entry
programme. At the graduation a collection of the
graduates’ writings was compiled to be released in a
book titled, Prisoners Honour Madiba: Breaking the
Cycle of Crime in South Africa this year. Coinciding
with the graduation I announce the launch of a
national campaign called Breaking the Cycle of Crime
in South Africa,” Osiris added.
“ The goal of the Breaking the Cycle of Crime
campaign is to recruit and train 10 000 offenders,
over the next three years, to pledge to break the cycle
of crime in their families and communities – in
honour of Mandela Day, particularly Madiba’s positive
example of re-entry after serving 27 years in prison.”
First Breaking the Cycle of Crime
campaign
The first annual Breaking the Cycle of Crime
campaign pledge will be held at Zonderwater
Correctional Centre on Nelson Mandela Day. A
unique aspect of the campaign is that it is offender-led
and youth-centered. This unique aspect is based on
the fact that most of the offenders in the GOSO
programme are parents. The GOSO re-entry
programme provides targeted support services for
children who have an incarcerated (or formerly
incarcerated) family member. This focus is informed
by the fact that research shows children who have an
incarcerated family member have a greater likelihood
of having disciplinary problems in schools and a
greater risk of dropping out as well as getting involved
in criminal behaviour.
The Department of Correctional Services puts
rehabilitation at the centre of its activities. The White
on Corrections in South Africa states that the
Department views the correction of offending
behaviour as having the following four
objectives:




Promoting social responsibility
Ensuring that offenders can recognize what
they did is wrong
Ensuring offenders understand why society
regards what they did is unacceptable
Ensuring offenders internalize the impact
that their actions have had on their victims
and society as a whole
To correct offending behaviour, the above four
objectives require offender buy-in. The best way
to encourage and support offender buy-in is
through effective correctional programming.
Using a curriculum based on criminogenic needs
require offender buy-in. The best way to encourage
and support offender buy-in is through effective
correctional programming. Using a curriculum
based on criminogenic needs research and
restorative justice practices, the GOSO re-entry
programme’s fundamental aim is to ensure
offender accountability and encourage offender buy
-in.
The GOSO re-entry programme and its Breaking
the Cycle of Crime campaign are aligned with the
Correctional Services Act (Act No 11 of 1998), the
White Paper on Corrections, and the Strategic Plan
of the Department in the fundamental belief that
every human being is capable of change and
transformation, if offered the opportunity and the
necessary resources. The Breaking the Cycle of
Crime campaign will provide 10 000 offenders,
over the next three years, with the opportunity and
necessary resources to change and transform their
lives for the better – starting while they are in
prison. Offenders had prepared an impressive 67minute programme for the day.
THE PLEDGE OFFENDERS MADE ON THE DAY
I take responsibility for my choices and for being in
prison. I am accountable for educating myself to
Get Out and Stay Out. In honour of Nelson Mandela
Day, I pledge to break the
my family and community.
GOSO NEWSLETTER
cycle of crime in
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Volume 1, Issue 1
June/JULY 2014
Nels on Ma ndela Day
Graduation in Pics
VO I C E S O N G O S O
‘As a professional with many years of experience in a
Correctional Centre, I realize that Prof. Osiris is bringing
in something very
unique to any correctional setting
namely - personal experience as a formerly incarcerated
person who had to face many challenges during and after
serving time. He also brought an academic
perspective to the process, he has a wealth of
theoretical and practical knowledge through his life
experience and studies,’ Social worker at Zonderwater Correctional
‘GOSO gave me a moment to honour
Madiba and
drink from his fountain of inspiration to turn the
cornerstone in my own
life!’ Inmate Mandla Madonsela
Centre A, Anina Alberts
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Volume 1, Issue 1
June/JULY 2014
GOSO Graduation
VO I C E S O N G O S O
‘Observing, consistently, how offenders
respond confronting their way of
thinking, their behaviour, and their
approach to challenges in life in such an
honest manner. When they are honestly
facing the truth, the process of change
from within, can truly begin,’ Mona–Marique
Dreyer, psychologist at Zonderwater Correctional Centre A
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Volume 1, Issue 1
June/JULY 2014
G O S O G R A D U AT I O N
Medium B in Pics
VO I C E S O N G O S O
‘“Additionally, he brings the balance into
this work of rehabilitation. He has the
ability to bring together both the theoretical
and practical experience. His ability to
speak with passion into the inner
being
of each individual reaches every
person through his programme,” Social worker at
Zonderwater Correctional Centre A, Anina Alberts
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