Academic and media reports suggest that many released prisoners commit another crime and are sentenced. However, South Africa lacks a standard definition for recidivism or a consistent way to measure it. This means that no one knows the true rate. Researcher Marelize Schoeman explains why tracking recidivism matters.

Why is the definition of recidivism so important?

Recidivism is not simply reoffending. The word comes from Latin. It means “to fall back”. It describes when an individual who has already served a sentence commits another crime and is arrested, convicted or sentenced again.

A high recidivism rate, therefore, reflects not only reoffending, but the criminal justice system’s failure to rehabilitate offenders and prevent further crime.

According to academic research, South Africa’s recidivism rate ranges from 55% to 95%. Media reports claim it to be as high as 80% to 97%.

These figures, however, can only be regarded as estimates. South Africa lacks a standard definition of recidivism. This has led to researchers and criminal justice institutions – including the Department of Correctional Services, the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority – using different definitions and measurement methods. This produces inconsistent data and inaccurate recidivism statistics.

The lack of a shared definition and common understanding has resulted in recidivism being used as a buzzword. This is done to create public sensation, score political points or claim programme success without any credible or generalisable evidence.

As a result, policymakers and service providers in the criminal justice sector don’t know whether:

policing, sentencing and rehabilitation programmes are effective

correctional centres are overcrowded due to repeat offenders

parole and reintegration efforts are successful.

This absence of reliable information hampers the criminal justice system’s ability to deliver effective prevention services, support parolees after release, reduce reoffending and build safer communities.

How can South Africa better define and address the problem?

The first step is to have a uniform definition of recidivism across the criminal justice sector. Then the rate can be measured accurately. Without accurate data, resources can be wasted on crime prevention and rehabilitation programmes that do not work. Effective initiatives will remain unnoticed or underfunded. You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

The second step is to improve record-keeping and create a central digitised databank for sentenced offenders. This databank would hold key information, such as personal details, previous convictions, the nature of each offence, and other risk-related factors that could influence an offender’s rehabilitation prospects.

This information should be accessible to the prisons, police and prosecutors. The courts, parole boards and accredited rehabilitation service providers should also have access.

Currently, there is no central record system. The police service maintains all criminal record information. To obtain a person’s criminal record, a form and the individual’s fingerprints must be submitted. An official then checks the database for any previous convictions, offence details and sentencing information. This largely paper-based system is prone to delays, human error and inaccuracies.

Many offenders use aliases or do not have identity documents.

A uniform identification system, using digitally captured fingerprints or iris scans, would be a more effective way of identifying and keeping records of individuals with a criminal record.

Digitising this process has been planned since 1996, but hasn’t happened. Fragmented systems, weak accountability, outdated infrastructure, governance bottlenecks and late deliveries have delayed it.

What difference will the database make?

Making these improvements would change how South Africa measures, understands and manages recidivism. A uniform definition would replace guesswork and political rhetoric with a clear, evidence-based standard.

Policymakers, researchers and practitioners could use a common language to make comparisons and coordinate strategies.

The focus could shift from viewing recidivism merely as individuals reoffending, to the criminal justice system’s effectiveness in breaking the cycle of crime.

A centralised, digitised offender database would reduce human error and improve data reliability, making it possible to identify and do what works.

Public trust in the criminal justice sector might improve, enhancing rehabilitation outcomes and building safer communities.

What countries have cracked this?

Countries like the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland and Sweden, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore have adopted a uniform definition of recidivism. They use it to measure the performance of their criminal justice systems.

The effectiveness of these steps is clear in Norway and Singapore. The two countries have some of the lowest recidivism rates in the world at 20% and 21%, respectively. The UK’s recidivism rates have declined from 31.6% in 2010 to 26.5% in 2023. In New Zealand, performance data is used to target high-risk groups and strengthen rehabilitation efforts.

These countries use biometric databases in law enforcement and correctional facilities. The databases help to identify offenders, track parolees and manage prisons. Authorities can identify ex-offenders who commit new crimes.

Recidivism statistics are also used as key performance indicators across the criminal justice system. They guide funding and programme development.

In South Africa, a review of the parole board system which began in September 2025 offers the Department of Correctional Services an opportunity to define what recidivism means.

This step could create the basis for developing a central record system for both incarcerated offenders and those under community corrections. The system could later be expanded across the entire criminal justice network.

Written by Marelize Isabel Schoeman, University of South Africa and republished with permission from The Conversation. The original article can be found here.

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The DA demands that both the Western Cape Provincial Police Commissioner and the Minister of Correctional Services urgently appear before Parliament, said Nicholas Gotsell, DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice.

This incident comes on the back of the recent escapes at Wynberg and Strand Police holding cells. Those escapes occurred while detainees were in SAPS custody, whilst this escape happened inside a maximum-security correctional facility – the place where security is supposed to be at its strongest, he said.

Helderstroom is intended to house some of the most dangerous offenders in the country and it is tasked not only with detention, but with rehabilitation and the protection of the public. A breach at this level indicates a failure at the very heart of the Department of Correctional Services’ security and operational controls, according to the DA.

“When a prisoner serving a sentence for a serious crime walks out of a maximum-security facility, the public is justified in asking whether Correctional Services is capable of performing its constitutional mandate. The escape from a maximum security facility by a single inmate, points to a criminal justice chain that is failing at every stage; from arrest to court process to incarceration,” Gotsell said.

Last week, following the escapes from SAPS holding cells, the DA wrote to the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Justice requesting the urgent appearance of both the Western Cape Provincial Police Commissioner and the Minister of Correctional Services to account for the repeated and escalating breakdowns occurring in both policing and correctional security environments. The DA has again written to the Chairperson to bring the latest incident to her attention and to request that the requested meeting be prioritised. Urgent and crucial interrogation is required.

Minister Pieter Groenewald must explain:

• How this escape was possible from inside a maximum security facility;

• Whether internal collusion is suspected or being investigated; and

• What immediate steps are being taken to prevent further breaches?

At a time when communities in the Western Cape are experiencing a surge of crime due to criminal justice failures, the State cannot allow violent, unrehabilitated offenders to return to the very communities they harmed, Gotsell concluded.

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National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Makgothi Thobakgale, confirmed the incident during a media briefing on Tuesday 4 November.

The attack – which occurred last week – comes about a month after the authorities’ announcement of a management intervention at the prison in a bid to address systemic failures at the facility.

“Correctional officials Mr Wuve Rubushe and Mr Mendo Somdyala were performing routine duties in Unit D3 of the Remand Detention Facility, shortly after breakfast had been served. At approximately 08:47, remand detainee Bonginkosi Jali, aged 46 and detained for theft, requested to use the toilet facility and was unlocked from Communal Cell 208.

“At that time, two other remand detainees, Ricardo Krotz, aged 28 and charged under POCA-related offences, and Andre Gouws, aged 22 and detained for murder, were in the passage performing cleaning duties. Tragically, all three were armed with sharpened objects.

“The assault began when Jali emerged from the toilet facility and attacked Mr Somdyala, stabbing him. Despite his injuries, Mr Somdyala managed to run to the unit office for assistance, where Mr Rubushe was stationed. The three detainees pursued him into the office and continued their attack on both officials,” Thobakgale said.

Another official, who arrived at the scene, called for backup and the additional officials disarmed and removed the attackers.

“Force had to be used to stop the assault. The detainees were immediately taken to the facility hospital, treated by the resident doctor, and later transferred to an external hospital. Sadly, Bonginkosi Jali and Andre Gouws died on the same day, while Ricardo Krotz succumbed to his injuries on 31 October 2025.

“Both officials were also taken to Constantiaberg Hospital for further medical care and have since been discharged. We remain deeply thankful for their bravery and continue to support them and their families as they recover from this traumatic event,” the Commissioner said.

He added that the “use of force in this case was unavoidable to preserve life”.

“Every incident involving force is subject to full investigation to ensure compliance with the Correctional Services Act.

“Transparency and accountability remain cornerstones of our operations, and all relevant oversight bodies and the families of the deceased have been informed,” the Commissioner noted.

Cracking down

Thobakgale noted that the initial management intervention at the facility “disrupted entrenched practices and illicit networks that had thrived in the absence of proper control”.

“This inevitably provoked resistance and resentment among those who had benefited from the previous state of affairs, creating tensions that, regrettably, culminated in the incident of 29 October 2025,” he said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the incident was gang-related and targeted at asserting dominance in the facility, following “the department’s renewed enforcement of discipline and order”.

“Jali was reportedly a self-proclaimed “General” of the 26 Gang [and] this incident serves as a stark reminder of the deep-rooted gangsterism challenge that continues to threaten safety within correctional facilities.

“Gang activities undermine security, disrupt rehabilitation, and endanger lives. Let me be clear: gangsterism has no place in our correctional system. It destroys the very essence of rehabilitation and corrodes the moral fabric of our centres.

“The department has been implementing a comprehensive Gang Combating Strategy focusing on intelligence-led operations to detect and neutralise gang influence, enhanced staff training to identify and prevent gang mobilisation, stricter internal controls to close security loopholes, and expanded rehabilitation and reintegration programmes offering inmates education, vocational training, and psychological support to break free from gang culture,” he said.

A new Area Commissioner – Ntomboxolo Kungune – has been appointed to the Pollsmoor facility to “reinforce leadership stability”.

“Her extensive experience, most recently as Area Commissioner of Drakenstein, will be invaluable in steering this Management Area toward renewal and improved performance. The team deployed by Head Office on 29 September 2025 will remain on site to sustain the momentum, oversee the implementation of corrective measures, and guide the transition toward a secure, compliant, and rehabilitative environment.

“We must confront this challenge not with fear, but with resolve and unity. Our mission remains clear – to restore order, uphold safety, and promote rehabilitation. Together, as a department and as a nation, we can defeat gangsterism, rebuild trust, and ensure that correctional centres remain places of transformation rather than turmoil,” Thobakgale concluded.

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This after security breaches at the facility revealed weaknesses in core operational procedures – compelling the National Commissioner to intervene.

“In recent months, Pollsmoor has experienced a series of serious security breaches that exposed weaknesses in the management of warrants, court appearances, and inmate identification processes.

“These incidents cannot be taken lightly, as they have the potential to undermine public confidence in the correctional system and compromise the broader criminal justice value chain,” Thobakgale noted.

The incidents include cases of mistaken release and an inmate assuming the identity of another.

Furthermore, in July, a raid at the facility led by the National Commissioner uncovered more than 110 cell phones, sim cards, sharp objects, drug paraphernalia, drugs and cash.

“[The] erroneous release of remand detainee John Henry Mpelo due to failures in verifying warrants, the mistaken release of Inganathi ‘Thembalethu’ Daba under another detainee’s identity, and the case of Jordan Adams, who exploited weaknesses in record management to assume a false identity.

“While all three offenders were subsequently re-arrested, these breaches point to deep systemic vulnerabilities in fingerprint verification, record reconciliation, and overall operational discipline. Investigations are underway, and there will be accountability and consequences for those found to have neglected their duties,” he said.

The management intervention is aimed at instituting “corrective measures, restore stability, and strengthen management practices at the facility”.

The intervention will be led by highly experienced department officials, Abel Mashaba and Michael Mafukata who will be deployed to Pollsmoor until the facility regains its footing.

“Pollsmoor is one of South Africa’s big five correctional facilities, strategically located to service numerous courts in the Cape Town metropole and surrounding districts. Its role in the criminal justice system is pivotal.

“Any instability here has a ripple effect across law enforcement, the judiciary, and community safety. We cannot afford to allow breaches of this magnitude to continue unchecked. This intervention is therefore not only necessary, but non-negotiable,” Thobakgale explained.

He added that the intervention is part of a broader plan to strengthen capacity and management at facilities across the country.

“The department has been making targeted appointments to stabilise facilities and strengthen governance structures. These interventions are not limited to management levels alone but also focusing on growing the frontline workforce that powers the correctional system.

“These developments demonstrate the zeal with which we are working to increase the pool of correctional officials, strengthen institutional capacity, and stabilise facilities. The intervention here at Pollsmoor must be understood in this broader context.

“We are committed to decisive action whenever lapses occur, while continuing to build a correctional system that is professional, accountable, and resilient,” Thobakgale concluded.

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GroundUp spoke to a prisoner, John (not his real name), who is terminally ill with cancer. He struggles to walk and his eyesight is deteriorating. He says he often has to rely on other inmates to help him with basic tasks.

John is serving a life sentence and has applied for medical parole in a bid to spend his final days with his wife and family. Since applying last year, he says the process has cost him over R140,000 in fees for private doctor assessments, a lawyer, and other expenses.

Louis Snyman, associate attorney at Beyers Incorporated, told us that private attorney fees for the process can run between R20,000 and R30,000. If the prisoner needs to go to the doctor, then transport and security must also be covered, and can run to R50,000.

John says he remains hopeful, though he knows that his chances are slim.

“It’s unbearable to know that my husband is in pain and I am not there to hold him, comfort him, and to take care of him in the way that I promised,” his wife told GroundUp.

Flaws in the system

In the 2024/25 financial year there were 80 medical parole applications, according to Department of Correctional Services (DCS) spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo. Of these, 27 were rejected, 38 were accepted and 15 applicants died before their applications were finalised. In the preceding three years, there were 214 applications with 91 rejected and a total of 15 deaths.

The Correctional Services Regulations set out six pages of information needed for a medical parole application. The information required should include: doctors’ reports on the prisoner’s health, reports from correctional officers, details of the inmates crimes, and information about what support is available for the prisoner if they are released on medical parole.

The 21 medical conditions considered include infectious diseases such as severe cerebral malaria, non-infectious conditions such as certain stage four cancers, dementia, and cardiac disease with multiple organ failure. Conditions not on the list may be considered with adequate motivation.

Nxumalo says allocating a medical parole application to a Medical Parole Advisory Board is supposed to happen within one day. After the assessments, the board takes this into its monthly meeting and is supposed to inform the correctional centre within three days.

“Medical parole is supposed to be a very straightforward process,” says Snyman.

But in practice, Snyman has found that while some prisons made this process efficient and clear, others caused months of frustration to no avail.

“There’s no uniformity,” he said.

He suspects results depend on trivialities, like whether the inmate is well-liked by wardens or whether a particular staff member is on duty when the application is made.

The first medical parole application he made on behalf of a prisoner was in 2022. The prisoner was confined to either his wheelchair or his bed. Doctors estimated he had about six months to live.

“Modderbee [prison] was quite an experience for me, because everything that the law states was, in my opinion, not followed.”

When Snyman did get a response, it was a PDF with the medical parole outcomes of sixteen cases, not his alone.

“Not one medical parole application was accepted. There was no correspondence. There was no feedback. There was nothing.”

He remembers having to break the news to the family.

He says at the core of medical parole is the belief that South Africans, no matter their crimes, have the right to dignity and healthcare. “They deserve that level of dignity, not to die in a four-by-four steel cell with 20 other people,” said Snyman.

Ministerial review

A review of the overall parole system was announced by the responsible minister back in 2015, in response to “endless litigations due to inefficiencies which led to delays”, according to a recent departmental report on its progress.

The review was recommended for tabling to Cabinet in 2023, but according to the report, the department is “currently engaging internally with the executive authority prior to finalisation”.

The proposed solution is a three-tier system of parole boards, though it is not yet clear how this would affect medical parole.

According to the report, the department is also in the process of changing financial and organisational structures to improve staffing. Five positions on the medical advisory parole board were advertised in several provinces in March 2025. At least one member per province must be in place for the functioning of the board.

Poor outcomes

An official at the prison oversight body, the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), speaking anonymously, told GroundUp the prison “environment significantly contributes to deteriorating health among inmates, particularly those who enter the system with terminal or chronic illnesses, which tend to worsen during incarceration”.

“For those with legitimate needs, being denied parole can lead to frustration, hopelessness, and behavioural issues within the facility, which also affects staff morale and operations.”

The official said that in recent months, new requirements, not yet public, including a formal risk assessment for inmates, have been added, further slowing down the process.

Dr Chesné Albertus, senior lecturer at the Department of Criminal Justice and Procedure at the University of the Western Cape, said one of the flaws in the current law is that it largely relies on the written recommendations of a correctional medical practitioner, rather than a more thorough independent confirmation.

“Room for error and unfair outcomes are possible as a result.”

She said the exact powers and functions of the Medical Parole Advisory Board also need clarification.

Albertus believes that the reason for the low number of successful applications may be in part because of the shortage of medical professionals in the correctional system.

Secondly, medical practitioners on the medical parole advisory board may be overly cautious, especially because prisoners whose health happens to improve do not need to return to prison.

She said prisons in South Africa rarely do a good job of offering palliative care to dying inmates.

Written by Elna Schütz for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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While his co-accused was released in October 2019, 52-year old Modise has remained behind bars.

Regarded as a model prisoner by his fellow inmates, he was recommended for parole in 2019 by the National Council of Correctional Services, a committee that gives guidance to the Minister of Correctional Services on improving the prison system.

Now, he feels he has little other option than to take legal action. He is suing the minister for contempt of court for ignoring a Gauteng High Court judgment. The judgment ordered the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and the Parole Board to provide valid reasons for his continued incarceration.

Modise’s lawsuit is not an isolated case. Increasingly, offenders are taking DCS to court for offences ranging from human rights violations and inhumane prison conditions to contempt of court for ignoring judgments ordering their release on parole.

The most recent case involves “a lifer” in Leeuwkop prison, Bongani Mashinini. On 29 April, the court ordered his release within 30 days, but DCS tried to overturn the judgment. The DCS’ application for the stay of the April order was dismissed on 15 July.

On 29 July, Mashinini sued Minister Pieter Groenewald for contempt of court. But Judge Elmarie van der Schyff dismissed the lawsuit on 30 July, because the minister was not served in his personal capacity and the Parole Board was not included as a respondent. The judge emphasised the urgency of reaching an agreement to release Mashinini.

Lawyers representing Mashinini say they will reapply for the contempt of court order.

Other contempt of court orders ignored by DCS include an application by Obed Mamogoba, in which the judge ordered his release within ten days of hearing the case on 2 June. The order has been suspended, pending an appeal by the DCS.

Concerned Families for Lifers, a support group for offenders serving life sentences, accuse DCS of flagrantly violating the order.

“These parole delays are depriving lifers of their constitutional rights and the lawsuits are costing South African taxpayers millions,” says the group’s spokesperson, Alice Modise.

Rehabilitation

DCS says the threat and cost of litigation “does not supersede the department’s obligation to the public. Lifers have the right to challenge the decisions made in a court of law,” says Euné Oelofsen, media liaison to the minister.

“Where a lifer has complied with rehabilitative programs and a risk assessment shows that the offender poses little to no risk to society, parole may be granted.”

But this did not happen in Tebogo Modise’s case. During his incarceration, Modise completed all his rehabilitation programmes, earned a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, and certificates in vegetable production and computer literacy. He also established a book club — the Leeuwkop Inmates Reading Association — and became a soccer coach.

In 2021, Modise learned that he had been eligible for parole since 2015 due to two landmark Constitutional Court cases which apply to lifers sentenced before 2004: the Van Vuuren and Van Wyk judgments. In the 2010 Van Vuuren case, the judge ruled that these lifers could be considered for parole after serving 20 years. The 2011 Van Wyk judgment ruled that lifers would also be entitled to an earlier parole date based on a credit system.

Yet human rights organisations have documented the extended delays plaguing the parole system with thousands of lifers sentenced before 2004 languishing in prison, despite being eligible for parole.

In 2021, Modise embarked on a hunger strike in protest against his prolonged incarceration. As punishment, he was denied contact visits from his family, and in 2024 he was transferred from the education section to a unit infamous for drug abuse and fights. He alleges he was repeatedly assaulted by members of the Emergency Support Team and laid criminal charges against them. The docket appears to have disappeared.

DCS refused to comment about Modise’s plight in 2021 Special Assignment TV investigation.

In 2023, he went to court to obtain an order directing DCS to furnish him with all his parole documentation for review within 30 days. The Johannnnesburg High Court ruled in his favour. But Modise, who represented himself, says he was furnished with incorrect documentation.

In 2024, he took the matter again to court but the judge dismissed the case without giving reasons why.

On 23 June 2025, attorney Elias Makgopa, who has acted for several prisoners in contempt of court cases, represented Modise in the Gauteng High Court. The matter was unopposed and the judge ordered DCS and the Parole Board to file reasons, within ten days, for his continued incarceration. They have yet to comply.

“They are trying to break me … but I won’t let them,” Modise recently wrote from Leeuwkop Prison.

He said he has not lost hope “that the law will ultimately hold accountable and bring consequences to those in power who show contempt of court”.

According to Oelofsen, there are no prisoners with life sentences awaiting consideration for parole by the minister as of 6 August. There are 113 that have not been considered by the National Council of Correctional Services yet. These are scheduled to be considered this month and next.

written by Hazel Friedman for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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For over five years, NM has been requesting gender-affirming healthcare, such as hormone treatment, recommended by Department of Correctional Services (DCS) psychiatrists. She has now approached the Gauteng High Court and the Equality Court to get an order directing the prison authorities to provide this as primary health care.

Her situation is similar to that of Jade September, a transgender woman imprisoned in the male section of Pollsmoor, who won her 2019 case in the Equality Court against the Minister of Correctional Services and others.

The Equality Court ruled that not allowing September to express her gender identity was unfair discrimination.

Standard operating procedures

The judge gave correctional services several options for reasonably accommodating September within two months and ordered DCS to introduce transgender sensitivity training for all employees within a year.

This included putting standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place for LGBT+ prisoners.

The SOP outlines how prisoners should be admitted, including an assessment of the safety risk they may face, which needs to be completed in the first six hours.

The SOP explains how searches and body cavity searches are to be conducted respectfully on LGBT+ prisoners. It also states that transgender men and transgender women should be detained or transported only with other transgender men or transgender women respectively.

The document also describes how LGBT+ prisoners should be communicated with. For instance, staff are strongly encouraged not to assume someone’s gender identity and to respect it once clear.

Alleged problems with implementation

Sanja Bornman, an independent gender law and policy specialist who represented September at the time of the case for LHR, says that the way prisoners were treated improved significantly after the court order. But the effects were not far-reaching or long-term.

“Over time, it became clear that officials held the mistaken belief that the order only applied to Ms September, and not all transgender inmates,” Bornman says. “Even the improved treatment of Ms September was not fully sustained.”

Bornman notes that legal interventions on behalf of transgender prisoners were needed several times after the judgment. For instance, LHR had to write to the correctional service facility repeatedly to remind officials to uphold the order and to extend accommodations to all transgender prisoners.

Belinda Qaqamba Makinana, legal and health programmes manager at Gender Dynamix, which acted as a friend of the court in the September case, says that the harassment frequently comes from DCS staff not other prisoners.

“We know that besides these two cases, there are many other transgender women in various prisons in South Africa who still face violence,” says Makinana.

Gender Dynamix was involved in the process of developing the SOP. Makinana said the SOP is often not implemented as it should be.

“I think definitely there needs to be more sensitisation work within prisons to be a safer space, and South Africa must perhaps take a bolder step in terms of the ways in which they want to accommodate transgender people.”

DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed that it is a disciplinary offence for a prison official to discriminate against a prisoner on the basis of their gender or sexuality, or to display disrespect.

“DCS continues to sensitise its officials around protecting and securing human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex inmates,” he said.

A report last year by the Commission for Gender Equality states that while SOP around LGBTQIA+ prisoners is in place and was developed with care, its implementation remains concerning.

Written by  Elna Schütz for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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During a media briefing on Monday, committee chair Kgomotso Ramolobeng said that the large number of remand detainees – prisoners awaiting trial – was the biggest contributor to overcrowding. There are currently around 57,600 remand detainees. Almost a third of people in South African prisons are awaiting sentencing.

Ramolobeng said both the departments of Correctional Services and of Justice and Constitutional Development must take responsibility. In the 2023/24 financial year, only around 3% of the cases referred to courts were successfully prosecuted. This is a “tiny success rate,” she said.

Legislation that is supposed to regulate remand detention is “producing very minimal results”. This includes Section 63A of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows for people to be released on warning instead of bail, and Section 49G of the Correctional Services Act, which limits remand detention to two years.

Ramolobeng said the committee has invited the justice minister to address the committee on how to better process remand detainees.

About 2,500 people are in prison simply because they can’t afford bail. These inmates frequently have bail set between R300 and R1,000.

It costs the state around R470 a day to keep them in prison, said Ramolobeng.

“We cannot have a system that further perpetuates the injustices that our constitutional democracy so desperately tries to correct,” said Ramolobeng.

Community service instead of imprisonment could be more appropriate in some cases and will reduce overcrowding.

Infrastructure

Ramolobeng also highlighted the infrastructure backlog. There is not enough maintenance, and infrastructure is often vandalised by inmates, she said. Overcrowding puts a strain on infrastructure.

While some facilities need regular maintenance, others require major upgrades and repairs. For example, a kitchen in a Durban prison is temporarily closed for repairs after concerns were raised by the parliamentary portfolio committee, said Ramolobeng. The department also closed and repaired the kitchen at Modderbee prison in Gauteng earlier this year.

The department remains underfunded, she said. This year, the department has been allocated R29.2-billion.

“The committee has urged the department to tighten its belt and implement measures to cap expenditure, including placing more emphasis on a self-sufficient and sustainability model and using offender labour to cut costs,” said Ramolobeng.

“Foreign nationals”

Ramolobeng also addressed the issue of immigrants in South African prisons – a topic raised in several committee meetings in recent months.

There are more than 25,500 people of other nationalities in South African prisons as of 30 June. Around 13,400 of them are sentenced offenders, while the rest are remand detainees awaiting sentencing.

Ramolobeng said that this costs the country around R11-million a day (GroundUp has not independently verified this).

“The committee is seriously concerned that our correctional facilities have so many foreign nationals, but our country has not entered into an inmate exchange program with other countries, to see how we mitigate this challenge.”

She suggested that those sentenced to life could serve these terms in their home countries. She said the Department of Correctional Services has taken this issue seriously and indicated that it is open to revising the relevant section in the Correctional Services Act.

Written by Elna Schütz for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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In 2024/25 the DCS employed 39 599 personnel at a cost of R19.4 billion. This number is set to decline slightly to 39 204 in 2025/26, and 38 882 in 2026/27, according to the latest Estimates of National Expenditure (ENEs) published last week.

As staff continue to account for most DCS spending, National Treasury is looking to trim head counts from personnel intensive government departments such as correctional services and defence.

According to budget documents, Treasury has allocated R4.4 billion in 2025/2026 and R6.6 billion in 2026/2027 to incentivise public sector employees over 55 to take early retirement.

“There are certain departments that are more personnel-intensive than others and that have had problems with their budgets for their compensation of employees’ budgets. Two good examples of these are the Department of Correctional Services and the Department of Defence,” National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse said during a briefing last week.

Efforts are already being made to cut the Department of Correctional Services’ spending. A new meal plan was recently introduced to reduce costs, sparking complaints from some inmates.

DCS animals have also felt the effects of reduced spending. The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) on 11 March reported that severe “cost-containment” measures are directly affecting the feeding of animals kept at the country’s 21 agricultural correctional centres.

“These animals – including pigs, dairy cattle, poultry, equine used in mounted units, and dogs in the Department’s canine units – are now facing critical food shortages,” the NSPCA said.

Inspections across the country found that animals are receiving insufficient and inappropriate feed, which is being rationed due to shortages. Previously, pigs were fed species-specific food twice daily, but they are now receiving a diluted mixture of the limited stock – only once a day, the NSPCA said. Some pigs had to be euthanised as a result.

Correctional Centres keep farm animals primarily to produce food for inmates. There is an estimated one million animals kept at agricultural correctional facilities.

NSPCA inspector Navesh Singh told Daily Maverick that in some cases, suppliers haven’t been paid for six months and have stopped supplying food to prison farms.

Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald, after being informed of the SPCA’s report, told Daily Maverick that, “Immediate steps have been taken to implement corrective measures to ensure the welfare of all animals under our care.”

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She chairs Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services (PCCS) and said, after a Department of Correctional Services (DCS) briefing, building new prisons would not solve the inmate over-crowding problem.

She said the solution lies in addressing the justice system’s fundamental problems, including the delay in the processing of trials and completion of cases by courts, among other things. She said trials should be sped up and completed within a reasonable time. She also called on the department to have bilateral engagements with other relevant government departments in the justice, security and correctional services cluster to deal with the problem of overcrowding.

The statement was released after a DCS briefing to the PCCS earlier this month. Agenda items included progress on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on infrastructure projects with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and progress on Baviaanspoort and Modderbee correctional centre kitchen projects.

On over-crowding the committee heard it stood at “approximately 46%” when bed spaces were tallied against the prison population. The department said that requires the construction of 100 new correctional centres with a bed space capacity of 500 each or alternatively 50 new correctional centres with a bed space capacity of 1 000 each.

Making DCS’ task in this regard more difficult is a cut in infrastructure allocation to R721 million down from R1 billion. Additionally, Minister Dean Macpherson’s department has “devolved the majority of maintenance responsibilities” to Groenewald’s area of responsibility.

Earlier this year Groenewald stated that new prisons will cost the South African taxpayer an estimated R36 billion. This comes from a costing which has it that a 1000 inmate bed space medium correctional centre comes to between R680 000 and R725 000 per bed space. Alternatively, a 500 inmate facility comes in at between R725 000 and R810 000 per bed space. For high/maximum security centres the bed space cost starts at R1 080 000 and can rise to R1 400 000.

Groenewald moted however that “the current fiscal environment is not accommodative of this requirement.”

Currently, the department has 69 infrastructure projects registered, comprised of maintenance and capital projects. However, to deal with over crowding, two new build projects are underway. One is at Burgersdorp in Eastern Cape, where a project for the construction of a 500-bed Correctional Centre was awarded during April 2022, and it is expected to be finalised during 2026. The second project, at Parys in Free State, “the construction contract was terminated during February 2023, due to poor performance of the contractor.” Fortunately, the Minister added that “the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) appointed a replacement contractor during December 2023,” and the site is also expected to be completed in 2026.

On the positive side, the Minister revealed that during the period from September 2023 to July 2024, the department saw bed space capacity increase by 2 788.

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