'Prison overcrowding costly'

2003-06-26 12:54

Cape Town - Overcrowding in prisons is costing South Africa R18 million a day, and alternative methods of sentencing must be found, according to the New National Party.

In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly by Johann Durand (NNP), Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana said that on March 31 this year, there were 58 144 unsentenced prisoners in custody.

In reply to another question by Durand, he said there were more than five prisoners for every one correctional officer, excluding the privately operated (Apops) prisons and offenders in community corrections.

In a statement on Thursday, Durand said the figures were shocking.

According to the latest report of the inspecting judge, the country's prisons currently held about 188 000 prisoners, 70% more than the 120 000 for which they were designed.

"This overcrowding is costing the state R18 million a day. There are no more funds available for building more prisons; alternative methods of sentencing must be sought. We do not need more prisons, we need less prisoners."

Durand said the correctional services department had stated South Africa had a higher incarceration rate than most countries.

It was almost four times higher than that of Britain and Western European countries - four out of every 1 000 South Africans were in prison.

'Bigger co-operation'

"Overcrowding in our prisons is a serious problem that impedes the department's ability to achieve its goals of safe custody and rehabilitation.

"There should be bigger co-operation between the departments of correctional services, justice and the South African Police Service, especially with regard to awaiting trial prisoners, as they are contributing to the problem of overcrowding."

The prison population should be contained and other forms of punishment considered.

The possibility of youth prisons should be investigated, "electronic tagging" considered, and community service sentencing should be used for lesser crimes.

"If no other option can be found prisons should be privatised," Durand said.

- SAPA