Pretoria — Deputy Minister of Correctional Services Cheryl Gillwald says communities need to be involved in the rehabilitation of prisoners so they could become resourceful citizens again.

Ms Gillwald was addressing a public meeting attended by over a thousand people yesterday as part of the department's community outreach programme in Bethal, Mpumalanga.

The outreach programme is part of the ministerial imbizo which encourages interaction between the department and communities as well as promoting societal responsibility in the rehabilitation of prisoners.

Ms Gillwald said communities needed to be built so that those in conflict with the law could be transformed because they would one day rejoin society.

"We have to give them every opportunity while they are still in incarceration," she said.

The deputy minister highlighted the need for a new approach that would involve all stakeholders in the department's programmes of rehabilitation and development of offenders.

"There is a need for a new vision on corrections. Our system has to change and you need to tell us how we should change the way we do business," she said.

One way in which the community can get involved in rehabilitating offenders is through volunteering services to the department.

"If you are a priest, spend some time with young offenders to encourage them. If you can teach, volunteer to because there are many of these young people who can't read and write," explained the deputy minister.

She also urged inmates to teach each other and transfer skills as well as for departmental officials to educate prisoners about the new parole laws that come into effect in October.

"We must ensure that when inmates emerge from the high walls of our centres, they become productive members of the community. It's everybody's responsibility to make a difference," she told the public.