Oscar Pistorius moved to another prison
Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has been transferred to the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, which offers improved accommodation for the Paralympian in terms of rehabilitation and development programmes.
Pistorius is serving a six year sentence for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
The Department of Correctional Services' Singabakho Nxumalo says Atteridgeville Correctional Centre is used to accommodate offenders sentenced from 0-6 years and has rehabilitation and development programmes in place for offenders.
He says it was after a very careful consideration of all important factors, that the management decided that Atteridgeville Correctional Centre was the best place to accommodate Pistorius.
"Since his incarceration, offender Pistorius had to be 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 as it is strictly designed for remand detainees.
During the month of May 2016, the Management Area made a move which was long planned for, to upgrade the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in order to accommodate disabled offenders, leading to the bath tub installations. These upgrades were not strictly made for Mr Pistorius, but to accommodate disabled offenders for Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area. Furthermore, the upgrades were done long before the management considered moving Mr Pistorius to Atteridgeville," says Nxumalo.
Nxumalo says the move will enable Pistorius to engage in departmental rehabilitation programmes which are tailored according to the offenders' needs and length of his sentence.
He says Pistorius' transfer was purely due to his application which was lawfully and procedurally considered and approved after careful consideration.