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SA jails becoming less crowded
11/10/2005 21:50 - (SA)
Cape Town - The number of inmates in South Africa's overcrowded prisons has come down dramatically, said Inspecting Judge of Prisons Johannes Fagan on Tuesday.
"We are very optimistic. There's lots of good news. Things are going better and better," he told the national council of provinces' security and constitutional affairs committee.
The total number of prisoners had been reduced from about 187 000 in February to about 156 000 as at September 16.
This was mainly due to the recent amnesty granted to certain categories of non-violent offenders.
The number of awaiting-trial prisoners also had been dramatically reduced from more than 51 000 to about 45 000 during the same period, thanks mainly to speedier trials and initiatives such as plea bargaining and alternative sentencing.
However, Judge Fagan said he would like to see this figure further reduced to about 20 000.
Solution is to keep people out of jail
South Africa was out of step with most of the rest of the world in its belief that imprisonment was the answer to crime.
With about four out of every 1 000 South Africans in prison, the country was the worst in Africa and one of the worst worldwide in its use of incarceration.
The average figure in two-thirds of the countries of the world was 1.5 per 1 000 people.
Excluding women and children, it appeared that more than one in every 100 South African men under the age of 30 was imprisoned.
"The concern is with our overcrowding precluding rehabilitation, we are creating criminals," Fagan said.
The solution was not to build more-expensive and costly-to-operate prisons, but to keep people out of jail.
Unnecessary arrests
Awaiting-trial prisoners who were in jail purely because of poverty - about 13 000 who couldn't afford to pay bail of R1 000 or less - should be released, and approved parole dates advanced.
The issue of unnecessary arrests - about 18 000 a month - where people were arrested, waited for trial, were taken to court and then not returned to prison needed to be addressed.
A few of these might have been tried, found guilty and given non-custodial sentences, but the probability was the vast majority had the charges against them withdrawn.
Unaffordable bail
"The question is why were these people arrested, held in prison on average for several months, only to learn at court that they had been unnecessarily arrested and imprisoned," he said.
Other issues included unaffordable bail being set and court delays.
Judge Fagan also told the committee the use of alternatives to imprisonment, such as diversion and postponed or suspended sentences, should be encouraged.
- SAPA
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