Govt must cut prisoner numbers

2003-06-10 16:20

Johannesburg - The South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR) said on Monday it would take the government to court for violating prisoners' rights unless it urgently addressed overcrowded prison conditions.

In a statement, SAPOHR quoted statistics that indicated the country's prisons held 70% more prisoners than they were designed to accommodate.

Prisons were designed to hold 110 924 inmates, but the current population was 188 307, of which 130 449 were sentenced prisoners, it said.

About 57 858 were awaiting trial prisoners, which at an average cost of R98 a day per prisoner, meant that R18m a day or R6.5bn a year was unnecessarily spent on people who were not supposed to be in prison, the organisation said.

The prison rights body offered three suggested solutions to curb overcrowding.

The first was a collaborative approach between the departments of Justice and Correctional Services and the second the implementation of existing provisions, in terms of which minor offenders could be released under correctional supervision.

Lastly, it said criminal investigations should be improved to prevent investigating officers and detectives from "dumping" people in prison.

SAPOHR said overcrowding contributed to the spread of HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases.

It said conditions in prisons were inhumane and undermined human dignity as enshrined in South Africa's constitution.

Unless the Government urgently acted to solve the problem, SAPOHR would take the Government to court for violating prisoners' constitutional rights.

- SAPA