South Africa's prisons crisis includes shocking cases of detainees who’ve been awaiting trial for more than a decade, says correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald.
Financial constraints, corruption, overcrowding and a parole system that delays justice and release for thousands of prisoners are among the causes.
“We have more than 107,000 sentenced prisoners and about 57,000 remand detainees awaiting trial. We have almost 109,000 beds available,” said Groenewald.
“We can provide for the sentenced prisoners. The remand detainees are the problem and we have remand detainees awaiting trial for more than 10 years.”
His department is reviewing parole policies and looking to deport 26,000 foreigners in prison, many of them awaiting trial.
Groenewald also touched on proposed reforms, including:
- inmate labour programmes;
- tighter discipline; and
- changes to prison diets to reduce costs.
Speaking about his cabinet appointment and the FF Plus' “red lines” in the government of national unity, he said: “We believe in self-determination. Minority rights must be enhanced by acts of parliament. If there is total disregard of our cultural history — for example, I come forward with a certain piece of legislation — that will be a red line.”
On affirmative action, Groenewald reiterated his party’s long-held position favouring merit-based policies over race-based quotas.
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