Question NW229 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
20 March 2024 - NW229
Mkhwebane, Adv B to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
What steps is he taking to ensure that those granted unaffordable bail are transferred to remand detention until their cases are finalised by the courts, in light of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services’ (JICS) report to Parliament in October 2023, which indicated that unaffordable bail is one of the main contributors to overcrowding in prisons in which almost 5000 inmates are unable to pay bail set at R1000?
Reply:
The two strategies (categorised as direct measures in the overcrowding reduction strategy) which are driven by the Department of Correctional Services are:
- Bail review which entails submitting of applications to court in line with section 63A and 63(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act.
- Referral of applications to court for consideration of the length of detention of Remand Detainees (49G of the Correctional Services Act) at 21 months initially and annually if the RD continues with detention after submitting the initial and subsequent applications. Since there is no parallel section in the Criminal Procedure Act for handling the 49G applications, the bail review sections and subsections (section 60) are utilised when considering the 49G applications. The section refers to a multitude of interest of justice factors which have to be considered in each case when considering releasing the Remand Detainees, however the Department of Correctional Services as a detention institution is not informed of the factors.
The following table provides a breakdown of bail amounts of R1000 and below of RDs detained in South African correctional facilities. Contrary to the mentioned report, nationally, a total of two thousand eight hundred and twenty (2 820) remand detainees were detained with bail below R1000 as at quarter 3 of 2023/23 (31 December 2023).
|
Region |
R500 and below |
>R500 to R1000 |
|
EC |
244 |
274 |
|
FSNC |
238 |
149 |
|
GP |
280 |
374 |
|
KZN |
172 |
170 |
|
LMN |
134 |
211 |
|
WC |
271 |
303 |
|
Total |
1339 |
1481 |
|
Grand total |
2820 |
It should be noted that Department records the number of remand detainees incarcerated with an option of bail however, that the Department does not have information that plainly confirms that the remand detainees granted bail are still in detention due to inability to pay bail.
The Department will continue to refer remand detainees who qualify to court in terms of the Section 63 of the Criminal Procedure Act (Act 51 of 1977). Some of the RDs who are detained with an option of bail do not qualify for bail review in terms of the Bail Protocol due to the nature of crimes they are detained for.
END