For the 1991-1993 period, the prisoner population ratio in South Africa was 380 prisoners to every 100,000 persons, one of the highest in the world. Prison overcrowding is chronic, and some urban prisoners hold over 100 percent more prisoners than they were designed to hold. Under these circumstances, imprisonment does not act as a deterrent and does not rehabilitate the offender. Instead, an individual sent to prison is likely to emerge more skilled in crime and more bitter toward society. Measures that can be introduced to reduce crime and the prison population include community corrections, improving standards of living, planning and designing townships, developing effective rehabilitation strategies, and restructuring society. 15 references