The proposed system of electronic prisoner tagging has been put in abeyance by South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services “as one of its long-term projects”, says Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour.
Replying to a question from Democratic Alliance MP James Selfe, Balfour said this process will take into account technological developments in the field of electronic monitoring “as it applies in other countries”.
But Selfe said this is code for the end of the programme, “which is a pity”, because he said it is significantly cheaper on a daily basis for an inmate to be placed under home supervision than to stay in prison.
Tenders had, however, been called for the monitoring system in January 2001. The total budget approved for this tender for the year 2000/01 was R874 000, followed by R284 700 in the following financial year. Of this the total had been spent in 2000/01 and R280 000 had been spent in the second year. This was paid to Carter Gobleman and Associations.
Asked if the tender had subsequently been cancelled, Balfour said: “Yes, the invitation for tenders was cancelled.”
Balfour said unclear specifications resulted in confusion for tenders, including over whether it was a private public partnership. The department consulted the National Treasury, which advised subsequently that the tender was a private public partnership and that treasury guidelines called for a separate request for qualifications process to simplify the ensuring request for proposals process.
It also advised that the lack of a feasibility study “impeded the evaluation of affordability and value for money” and the pricing mechanism was unclear.
Selfe asked what it would cost per day for taxpayers to keep a prisoner in a state-run prison or a privately run prison — as opposed to electronic tagging.
Balfour replied that it costs R113,71 per day in a state prison while it is considerably more expensive in a privately run prison at R246,88 a day.
Balfour indicated that the cost of the tagging mechanism is “not readily available”.
Selfe estimated that the mechanism would cost about R80 a day per prisoner, taking into account the administrative costs. It would also assist with the overcrowding problem, he noted. — I-Net Bridge