Overcrowding in some prisons hits 248%
JICS warns urgent action needed
South Africa is struggling to curb overcrowding in the country’s prisons, with some facilities overcrowded by as much as 248%.
The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola revealed this in a parliamentary response, which showed that the country’s prisons have an overcrowding capacity of 33%.
Leading the pack are correctional centres in Eastern Cape, sitting at 63%, followed by Western Cape with 49%, while Gauteng prisons are overcrowded by 45%.
The Bizana prison in Eastern Cape is the country’s most populated prison, with overcrowding at 245%. Mount Frere prison, also in Eastern Cape, is overcrowded by 243%.
In Western Cape the most overcrowded prison is in George (146%), followed by Worcester prison at 137%, Knysna at 133%, and the female section of Pollsmoor prison at 124%.
In the country’s most populous province, Gauteng, Johannesburg Medium A houses 5703 inmates, against a bed capacity of 2468.
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) said that overcrowding in South African correctional centres has been problematic for years. Spokesperson Emerantia Cupido said one example of this was the judgment by the Western Cape High Court in December 2016, ordering the Pollsmoor remand detention facility to develop a comprehensive plan, including time frames, which would address a lot of the issues related to overcrowding.
“Overcrowding does not only affect the safety of inmates and prison officials, as the ratio of officials to inmates poses a danger to both, especially when it comes to optimal safety response times, but also creates deficiencies in the provision of exercise, nutrition, accommodation, ablution facilities and healthcare.
“Overcrowding has far-reaching causal effects, which not only affect those that are incarcerated, those that have to guard over them, but also increase the maintenance costs of centres as the buildings themselves cannot cope with the number of people being housed in them.”
Cupido said the JICS has been monitoring inmates who are incarcerated but cannot afford bail of less than R1 000, and has made several appeals to the minister for the release of certain categories of inmates.
Justice Department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said: “The excessive use of pre-trial detention, and the use of correctional for minor, petty offences, are critical drivers of population rates.”