Oscar Pistorius to be freed on parole

In a letter read out to the parole board during Friday's hearing, Ms Steenkamp's mother said she did not oppose his release but wondered whether Pistorius's "huge anger issues" were truly dealt with in prison.

This is the right question to ask. If prisons only deliver consequences, then the only possibility of prisons rehabilitating prisoners is the fear of additional consequences.

Is it common for murderers to be released after serving half their sentence?

The article says all South African prisoners are eligible for parole after serving half their sentence.
- Probably suspended sentence, serve half and if you do anything stupid you're back in prison for the remainder of your sentence plus whatever stupid thing you did to go back.
Always depends on the country and the way the convicts is acting in prison.
Some people might not want to believe it but in systems where convicts get support and where the goal is to reform them, murderers who are eligible for release (they are evaluated to be safe for society) have the lowest rate of recidivism of all criminals.
In Canada we are talking about 0.3% of all murder convicts that had previously been released after being convicted of the same crime or about one murder a year being perpetrated by a recidivist if you prefer.
- I do support the idea of reform. I just don't understand how this meshes with imposed sentences. It would make more sense to me for it to be "okay you're in jail until you're reformed" if that's the goal. Even if you want to impose a minimum sentence for reasons (perceived justice, punitive, deterrence) then you could say 7 years minimum, maximum forever unless considered "reformed". Rather than saying 13 years but we really mean 7 lol.
  I do see though that it could be a problem with my naive idea here in that is it really morally right to keep someone locked up indefinitely for a possibly "minor" crime? The reformation process and qualifications would have to be quite robust.
  Anyway, just an idea. I'm sure smarter people that me know why it is the way that it is. Feel free to comment if you have more insight.
- Yes? Did you want me to say he did 54% of his sentence or..?
Not sure about South Africa, but i'm guessing no?
- … in the article you posted it says all prisoners in South Africa are eligible for parole once they’ve served half of their sentence.

What is this, Canada?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius is to be freed from jail on parole, 10 years after murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

He shot Steenkamp multiple times through a bathroom door on Valentine's Day in 2013, later claiming he mistook her for a burglar.

Pistorius, now 37, was sentenced in 2016 to serve 13 years in prison.

Steenkamp's mother did not oppose bail but - in a letter sent to the parole board - said she wondered whether Pistorius's "huge anger issues" were truly dealt with in prison, adding she would potentially be "concerned for the safety of any woman" who now comes into contact with him.

June Steenkamp chose not to attend the parole hearing on Friday at Atteridgeville prison, near Pretoria.

Her husband and Reeva's father, Barry, died earlier this year and she said the strain on them both had been immense.

The original article contains 154 words, the summary contains 143 words. Saved 7%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

He's the military guy that was sharing a hotmail with his mistress right

He's the paralympic who murdered his girlfriend in a hotel room. You're thinking of David Patraeus (and so did I for a minute)
- not to be confused with oscar pescatarius, just a regular dude who likes seafood too much to be vegan