Prisons in crisis: 163,000 inmates and ‘broken’ laws fail to ease overcrowding

Jail/prison

Cape Town – South Africa’s prison overcrowding crisis continues to deepen, with the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services raising alarm over the poor implementation and low success rates of legislation designed to reduce inmate numbers.

According to IOL, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) on Friday told Parliament that the country’s prison population has ballooned to 163,179, including 57,901 remand detainees as of June 30.

Despite legislative provisions meant to relieve pressure on facilities, success has been limited.

Section 49G of the Correctional Services Act mandates that detainees awaiting trial for over two years must be referred to court for reconsideration, while Section 62F of the Criminal Procedure Act allows for awaiting trial detainees to be placed under correctional supervision instead of remaining behind bars.

Court referrals

However, only 1.25% of 12,283 court referrals under Section 49G were successful in the 2022/23 financial year — with the Eastern Cape and Western Cape posting a 0% success rate. The trend continued in subsequent years, with only two successful referrals recorded in the Eastern Cape in the current financial year, Parliament said in a statement on Friday.

Chief Deputy Commissioner for Remand Detainees, Cynthia Ramulifho, said efforts to use these laws to reduce prison numbers were “not yielding much success”.

Out of 24,566 referrals made in 2022/23, only 308 were successful. The numbers remained poor in following years: 560 of 19,764 in 2023/24 and 676 of 18,206 in 2024/25.

In total, only 2,405 referrals for the conversion of bail to correctional supervision were approved over the last three years.

“There are systemic inefficiencies,” said MK Party MP Musawenkosi Gasa, adding that the high percentage of inmates serving sentences of over 15 years — about 40% of the total sentenced population, including lifers — significantly worsens overcrowding.

“This means that bed spaces will not become readily available, which places more pressure on already overcrowded correctional facilities,” Ramulifho explained.

She also revealed that 71 unsentenced children were in custody, with 41 already incarcerated, and the numbers continue to rise.

Committee Chairperson Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng echoed concerns, stating that the slow legal processes and lack of long-term sentencing reform have compounded the crisis. ANC MP Samuel Moela added that overcrowding remains a “serious challenge.”

As pressure mounts, the committee has called for urgent interventions from both the DCS and the Justice Department to address what they describe as a growing humanitarian and governance concern in South Africa’s correctional system.

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