About a third of those in prison were youths, while more than 11,000 have been jailed for life. Foreign nationals, of whom the majority were Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, made up 8,973 of inmates. A total of 4,087 of these nationals have been sentenced, while 4,886 were waiting to be sentenced.
The inmates were being held in 243 facilities operated by the Department of Correctional Services. Keeping each of them behind bars costs the taxpayer R298.38 daily or up to R9,000 per month. The Department employed 43,712 people, of whom 20,000 perform custodial duties.
This was said at a press briefing yesterday by Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele before he delivered his Budget Vote in Parliament.
"On average, 15 to 20% of the awaiting trial detainees are in custody because they cannot afford bail. This has resulted in the poorest of the poor being removed from their families with related socio-economic implications," Ndebele said.
On the large number of remand prisoners, he said Correctional Services only had beds for 119,000 people, while there were more than 140,000 in prison. "It's a crisis for us," said Ndebele.
New measures that did not "clog up the system" had to be evolved, he said.
One of the measures that could bring some relief was electronic monitoring, which allowed prisoners to be monitored for 24 hours. Economically, it would also be more advantageous to use this method, as it would bring the cost of maintaining inmates down from R9,876.35 a month to R3,379.
Correctional Services, the Department of Justice and the Chief Justice were in agreement on the efficacy of electronic monitoring. It was up to them to convince the Magistracy that electronic monitoring works, Ndebele said.
Some awaiting-trail prisoners have been in prison for years. From July, Correctional Services will take prisoners who have been on remand for years to court for a determination on their position.
The average inmate was a young substance abuser, who had dropped out of school, was functionally illiterate, and mostly homeless.
On rehabilitating prisoners, Ndebele said several programmes have been introduced. They included the Western Cape Arts and Craft Gallery opened at the Goodwood Correctional Centre earlier this week; the Reading and Redemption Campaign launched last December, and the Victim-Offender Dialogue.
From April this year, it became compulsory for every inmate without a Grade 9 qualification or its equivalent to complete an Adult Basic Education Level 1 - 4 course. By June this year, an estimated 15 260 were expected to register for ABET courses.
Last year, inmates who sat for the Matric exam pushed the average prisoner pass rate up from 68.06% in 2011 to 79.25%.
In 2012, a total of R66.424 million was pumped into training 5,837 offenders in scarce skills such as welding, plumbing, plastering, brick-laying and carpentry.
"We almost want to say no one has the right to ignorance, particularly if we pay almost R10,000 a month for you. You are there at the taxpayers' expense," said Ndebele.
A matter of concern to the minister was the increase of gang violence in prisons. Attacks were not only perpetrated on prisoners, but also against warders. "It's a very serious matter. Officials themselves are targeted. It's a high risk occupation," the minister.
A National Gang Management Task team has been established to combat gang violence, as well as their trading in drugs.
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