Budget Vote: briefing by Department of Correctional Services

Meeting report

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
26 February 2002
BUDGET VOTE: BRIEFING BY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

Chairperson:

Current State of Expenditure 2001/02

SUMMARY
Part of the Department's mid-term objectives are the increase and upgrade of prison accommodation. There are plans to start construction of three new prisons this year. These should be completed by the 2004-2005 financial year.

MINUTES
Mr Mti (Department) led the budget briefing along with Mr Tshivhase: Chief Financial Officer, Ms Sishuba, acting CDC Functional Services, Mr Ngubu, acting CDC Corporate Services, Mr Makhani, Director of Financial Planning. Mr Mti outlined the Department's programs for restorative justice. Overcrowding is a major problem and solutions in the form of privatisation schemes, such as that of APOPs, should be more carefully considered.

The Chief Financial Officer, Mr Tshivhase, presented the current state of expenditure 2001/2002. The figures showed 87.45% of all budget allocations was spent in all programs. Part of the Department's mid-term objectives are the increase and upgrade of prison accommodation. There are plans to start construction of three new prisons this year. These should be completed by the 2004-2005 financial year. This will cost a total of R7.4 million. The increase R143 to 435 million in the budget from 2001-2002 to 2002-2003 was not enough. The increase will mostly go into the building of the new APOPs prisons and as a result other projects aimed at rehabilitation would suffer budget cuts. The highest allocation is to the head office due to the centralisation of project management and in decreasing order to Gauteng then Kwazulu Natal then Western Cape.

Allocation is done according to the population per province. For example, there are more people per one prison in Gauteng than in several smaller prisons in the Western Cape. There is a shortfall in the budget allocation to prison accommodation of R86 million, which needs to be found. Concerning accusations that the new APOPS prisons would be overcrowded, Mr Tshivhase responded that these two new prisons are not expected to be overcrowded by 2025, when they would be taken over by Correctional Services. However, overcrowding was to be expected by 2026-27.

The shortfall of the financed offenders program was to be supplemented with savings from other programs. This is due to the fact that the growth of the budget allocation does not reflect the increasing number of expected prisoners by 2004. There is a need for Justice, Safety and Security and Correctional services to come together as a cluster to address issues, for example the issue of overcrowding due to awaiting trial prisoners who are not the responsibility of Correctional Services. With respect to personnel, there is an imbalance since there are plans to recruit 6000 police per year, while there has been no planned increase for Correctional Services.

This does not make sense as increasing arrests mean an increase in the number of prisoners that end up in the correctional services' system. It has also not been possible to increase the salaries of employees for the last few years, which has made the task of keeping staff very difficult, creating a need for other incentives. On a positive note Mr Tshivhase said that the Department has had to come up with creative ways to sustain projects including prison production of food, furniture and goods.

Discussion
Mr Bloem (ANC) said he was depressed and disappointed by APOPS. He felt the Committee had been mislead by the presentation of APOPS. According to the Commission, outsourcing must be coupled with cost-effectiveness. However, the government is losing while others gain as the necessity to sacrifice some of the Correctional Services budget to APOPS means the sacrificing of the rehabilitation program.

Mr Mti responded that the support of the Committee was needed on how to manage this 25 year contract that drains his Department continuously. He said that this public-private partnership was entered into before his appointment, and relies on a budget worked out five years ago. The Department was thus forced to work within its parameters since Treasury regulations are hard to change. He said that it was not cost-effective and has a negative impact on the integrity of Correctional Services.

He added that overcrowding continues to impact on all rehabilitation programs. It is not possible to rehabilitate prisoners in overcrowded conditions. This is a vicious circle. It is not the problem of Correctional Services only, but needs to be addressed as a cluster responsibility, for example the problem of awaiting trial prisoners, who are kept in Correctional Services prisons while they are the responsibility of Safety and Security.

The Chairperson commented on the issue of awaiting trial prisoners. Discussions had led him to conclude that there is a need for a continuous process of interrogation with judges to set up the release of awaiting trial prisoners.

Mr Mti said that APOPS should not be called before the Committee alone but with the Department from whom they are not independent. They must be judged by Correctional Services, not vice-versa. In fact many of the Department's best people move over to APOPS because of better salaries.

Ms Sybil Seaton (IFP) expressed serious concern over the control of who is making a profit and how much. She said that it is not possible to meet the demands of rehabilitation without enough personnel or facilities. She suggested the re-allocation of some of the budget from Justice to the Department of Correctional Services. She also suggested that money made by self-sustaining projects in the prisons go back to the Department and not to Treasury.

Referring to the industrialisation of prisons Mr Mti said that this was being opposed by the Department of Labour since it uses cheap labour. However, this has potential both to generate income and to provide skills. Mr Mti cited examples of food and furniture production at various prisons. He said that many issues are involved in the restorative justice program, of which this was one piece.

The Committee requested more details on rehabilitation programs in place.

Ms Sishuba responded that the programs themselves are not what is important but rather the quality of the programs. All activities of all personnel must focus on rehabilitation. She explained that workshops had been held with the community, social workers, ex-prisoners and tertiary institutions. A model was developed from this for the training of all staff responsible for rehabilitation. It was determined that programs need to be gender and age specific. She said that there are partnerships with the communities, and 350 CBO's and NGO's. Tertiary institutions have begun special training programs for Correctional Services, focussing on community psychology.

Mr Bloem asked what is being done to recruit new medical personnel with the exodus of so many doctors and nurses? Another Member commented on the difficulty of attracting personnel due to lower salaries.

Mr Mti said that there is a serious loss of professionals like social workers, nurses and psychologists, but not doctors as there are none at this time. The recent go-slow at Pollsmoor was due to the loss of nursing staff. He was dismissive of doctors who criticise prison conditions for their own commercial interests, in order to convince prisons of the need to outsource to private practices.

The Chairperson, Mr Fihla, asked about the progress of the electronic monitoring and the finger-print tracking systems.

Mr Bloem added that the R15million budgeted for this had been lost and that there is a need for more vigilance concerning the proposal of new projects.

Mr Mti responded that electronic monitoring is a concept not necessarily viable for South Africa, due to its large rural areas, not electrified. Mr Mti explained that he had again inherited this concept and was ready for the suspension of certain programs that are not sustainable. The Inmate Finger Tracking System is however essential to the functioning of prisons, especially since it links Correctional Services, Safety and Security and Justice in one system.

A Member asked for a brief on the development of the Kokstad prison.

Mr Mti said that Kokstad prison had been an evolving problem, but would finally be opening in September this year. All the criticism directed at the Department of Correctional Services for running 'five-star hotels' would be refuted by this maximum security prison. Only the most difficult prisoners would be sent there.

A Member asked why the integrated justice system failed to address the problem of awaiting trial prisoners. Restorative justice included the new Child Justice Bill, which forces the Department of Justice to have diversion processes for youth offenders, and this allocation indicates a saving for the Correctional Services Department.

Mr Mti responded that while the issue of overcrowding is the central concern of the JCPS cluster, it does not filter down to all levels of the individual Departments. Often issues like those around the Child Justice Bill fall under the ethical issues of another cluster, such as Social Development. There is a need to understand the broad nature of these issues, rather than how they affect one Department.

Questioning who is responsible for awaiting-trial prisoners is not a means of not taking responsibility. Although awaiting trial prisoners are supposed to remain in police custody lack of accommodation forces them to be sent to prisons, which cannot accommodate them either. It is thus a cluster problem.

Mr Mayiza (ANC) asked whether, since the APOPS contract is not benefiting the Department and is costing a lot of money, it is not possible to terminate the contract. Especially since it is not meeting the expectations set out in the contract. He also asked whether the products produced by the Department are sold back to prisons or are distributed externally as well. He gave the example of a Pretoria prison producing door locks for all prisons.

Mr Mti said that it was a distortion to say that APOPS is not benefiting the Department by providing accommodation for 3000 APOPS prisoners. This takes a load from the Department in terms of overcrowding. However, there was a possibility for better, more cost-effective solutions.

In response to the question of prison production Mr Mti explained that the revenue returns to the prison to replenish supplies, some goes to prisoners as incentives and the surplus goes to Treasury. Mr Tshivhase said that locks are produced by the Pretoria prison to prevent outside companies having access to the specifications of prison locks. He added that a potential revenue of R72 million could be generated from prison industries, thus intensifying poverty alleviation and rehabilitation programs.

Mr Bloem asked for more detail about the proposed use of empty military facilities for prison accommodation.

Mr Mti said that the use of military facilities had been proposed in the cluster context, which had mandated the Director General to look for solutions to the overcrowding through the Department of Social Development. Mr Tshivhase added that the Department of Public Works are planning to sell off seventeen facilities, but that Correctional Services should be consulted. He said that the project has potential, but that facilities need evaluation and investigation before conversion can be decided on. He said that the budget was available for this project. The airforce base outside Johannesburg would be converted.

Ms Seaton (IFP) also suggested that the additional savings of government should be given to the Department of Correctional Services, as it would ultimately alleviate the burden on the tax payer.

Mr Mti responded that the savings of the Department would be welcomed from Treasury. This has a big impact on morale. He said that the running of industrialised prisons like Drakenstein in the Western Cape by Directors encourages corruption, while staff are not valued for their actual work and contribution to prisons but by their rank and qualification.

A Member asked how the Committee could help with the recruitment problem. The Chairperson suggested the use of bursaries where the training of staff should be repaid by working in the Department.

Mr Mti added that to answer how the Committee could assist with recruiting required more research. He said that there is a need for the retraining of warders from incarceration to rehabilitation.

Mr Makhani: Director, Financial Planning, explained that a type of bursary system needs to be discussed. The problem was also about retaining, not only attracting specialists. Nurses from outside would often come to Correctional Services to get experience before leaving the country.

Ms Sishuba said that understaffing was a major problem, as well as facilities for social work. The Department is investigating possible incentives for staff.

In conclusion, Mr Mti suggested billing the police for keeping their awaiting trial prisoners.

The chairperson commented that what affects the Department affects the Portfolio Committee. He emphasised the need for cluster meetings to find solutions to mutual challenges.

The meeting was adjourned.