Incarcerating children between their critical formative years of nought to seven could result in "endemic damages", he told the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) during a debate on the Correctional Services Amendment Bill.
The Bill would allow community organisations and religious groups to help find homes for the children elsewhere and rehabilitate their sentenced mothers to have them integrated back into society.
A clause would be inserted into the Bill to make sure that such organisations were screened and registered with the Correctional Services Department.
Solitary confinement would be replaced with "corrections programmes" intended to correct the offending behaviour. "This will be coupled with a loss of gratuity and restriction of amenities. This corrective sanction, together with any use of mechanical restraints, must be reported to the national commissioner and the judicial inspectorate for correctional services immediately to ensure full accountability and no abuse of these measures," he said.
Further proposals included sentences not involving imprisonment for those posing little or no danger to society. This would help reduce their chances of becoming repeat offenders, Balfour said.
The Bill was tabled in Parliament last year. If the NCOP agreed with the Bill it would be sent to President Thabo Mbeki to sign it into law.
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