According to officials, Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, will not be sent back to prison in order to reduce overcrowding.

Zuma, who was given a 15-month prison term for defying the court, turned himself in to the police on Friday.

He had previously been released on medical parole, which the courts deemed to be unlawful.

To ease jail overpopulation, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola claimed he had been granted remission.

By releasing low-risk offenders, the method seeks to lessen systemic stress.

Zuma reported at the Estcourt Correctional Facility in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal on Friday morning and was “admitted” into the system before being released an hour later, according to South Africa’s Commissioner of Prisons Makgothi Thobakgale.

President Cyril Ramaphosa granted the remission status to more than 9,000 low-risk inmates.

According to him, the “remission process” began in April.

More than 350 people died in rioting and protests when Zuma was imprisoned in 2021.

After declining to appear before a tribunal looking into financial fraud and favoritism committed under his president, he was punished.

But only two months into his sentence, he was released on medical parole.

In November of last year, an appeals court ruled that Zuma’s release had been improperly granted and sent him back to prison to complete his sentence. The constitutional court rejected a motion to reverse this judgment last month.