Pastoral counselling to young prisoners during and after imprisonment : case study within Mopane District of Limpopo Province

Abstract

According to research conducted in the Mopani District. Limpopo Province (South Africa) there is confirmation that young prisoners return to crime after their release and find themselves back in prison again. It is of vital importance that a problem of this kind within a society be addressed and one way of doing so is to oiler as much pastoral counselling as possible to young prisoners in prison and after their release. Pastoral counselling includes a wide range of assistance, inter alia, to give advice and information, to encourage and build self-esteem, to attend to inner well-being and order in society, as well as to bring about a change in the way the person thinks about morals and values and to pray and pray again. It would seem that there is still scope for improvement with regard to pastoral counselling to young prisoners.it is with this in mind that suggestions for pastoral guidelines have been put together in the course of this study. In Chapter 2 there is reference to basis memory principles as established from Scripture. A prisoner is as much an image bearer and representative of God as any non-imprisoned person and should as such be motivated to remain faithful to God in spite of circumstances; i.e. also to abide with God's law of loving God, neighbour and oneself in honour of God. Sin and crime stand in direct correlation to a broken relationship between man and God, and there is no doubt that God expects from the churches (all leaders and members included) to care for prisoners. Matthew 25:36-40 contains related reference. It has been well stated that churches should assume certain responsibilities towards prisoners as doing so is rooted in God's Word. God promises judgment to those who turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to prisoners. It is, therefore, necessary that an awakening call to churches be heard. The principles established through metatheory and empirical study are discussed in chapters 3 and 4. Churches are motivated to contribute to the well-being of young prisoners. Communities are faced by many c3 allenges, e.g. to promote crime prevention activities and to rehabilitate prisoners and thus to act pro-actively in nation building. The role of the church is and remains of extreme importance in accomplishing these goals. One cannot but come to the conclusion that every effort should be made by churches to join hands with NGOs and CBOs in the battle against crime.