Question NW677 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
17 March 2023 - NW677
Yako, Ms Y to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
With regard to the consideration by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services looking at a bail funds system similar to that of the United States in a bid to reduce overcrowding in prisons to date, what total number of inmates are incarcerated due to their inability to pay the required bail amount?
Reply:
Out of a total number of 56 067 remand detainees as on 01 February 2023, 5 680
(10, 13%) of those remand detainees were detained with the option of bail, while 50 387 (89, 87%) were not granted bail. Furthermore, additional analysis conducted showed that on 31 January 2023, a total of 1 291 remand detainees were detained with an option of bail of R1000 and less.
Below is a breakdown of bail categories as at 31 January 2023. From the data depicted below, 63.1% of the remand detainees were granted bail of R1000 and less while 36.9% of the remanded detainees were detained bail above R1000 up to R4 million.
|
Bail Amount |
EC |
FSNC |
GP |
KZN |
LMN |
WC |
Grand Total |
% |
|
R500 and below |
139 |
46 |
149 |
101 |
49 |
179 |
663 |
32,40 |
|
>R500 to R1000. |
27 |
21 |
166 |
104 |
52 |
258 |
628 |
30,69 |
|
>R1000 to R5000 |
7 |
16 |
294 |
116 |
77 |
156 |
666 |
32,55 |
|
>R5000 to R10 000 |
0 |
0 |
35 |
5 |
12 |
9 |
61 |
2,98 |
|
>R10 000 to R50 000 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
21 |
1,03 |
|
>R50 000 to R100 000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
0,20 |
|
>R100 000 to R500 000. |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0,10 |
|
R4million |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0,05 |
|
GRAND TOTAL |
173 |
83 |
660 |
328 |
192 |
610 |
2 046 |
100 |
It should be noted that no information is available that explicitly confirms that the remand detainees granted bail are still in detention due to inability to pay bail.
END