Conditions in prisons are not likely to improve until the problem of overcrowding is solved Barry Streek The OghastlyO conditions and overcrowding in South AfricaOs 236 prisons prevent the addressing of prisonersO human rights, says the inspecting judge of prisons, Judge Hannes Fagan. About 170 000 prisoners were being held in jails built to accommodate about 100 000 people, he told a conference on human rights and crime at the University of the Western Cape last weekend. OThis is ghastly. We cannot deal with human rights in prisons unless we get the numbers down.O
Most prisons, like Durban-Westville, with 11 000 inmates, are overcrowded. At Tabankulu in KwaZulu-Natal, over-occupation is 400%. JohannesburgOs Medium A prison was built to accommodate 2 600 people but is housing 6 400. Fagan hopes 12 000 awaiting-trial prisoners who cannot afford to pay bail will be released soon under conditions which could include house arrest, to bring some relief to the situation. He says the sentenced prison population has increased from 93 000 to 110 000 over the past five years, but the number of unsentenced prisoners has increased from 24 000 to 64000 over the same period The time of imprisonment for people who are too poor to afford bail before their trials were held could be longer than a year at a cost of R88 a day to the state. OThis is … detention without trial,O Fagan said. Some were awaiting trial because they had not paid maintenance and they could not afford bail, but they could not even work now to pay the maintenance because they were in jail. The new head of the National Institute for Crime and Rehabilitation of Offenders, Carl Niehaus, warned that people had to accept that the overpopulation of prisons would continue. He said the only difference from three or four years ago was Othe situation in our prisons is much worseO. OEverything I have heard since I came back is that the option of bringing down our prison population is very limited. I hope I am wrong.O The circumstances in the prisons could eventually lead to the Constitutional Court because the conditions could be described as unconstitutional. It had to be accepted that there were very few people who were improved by imprisonment and that the number of people who had been rehabilitated by being imprisoned was very small. It also had to be accepted that, in the context of South Africa, the political atmosphere and public feeling were not conducive to limiting the number of people being imprisoned and to bringing down sentences.
While some people were talking about developing a new sentencing policy in South Africa, there was an emphasis in all parties about longer sentences.
Fagan said many youngsters got diseases like scabies because of overcrowding in prisons, and in places like Pollsmoor they could not even wash their clothes because there were simply no facilities for them Othey are in the same clothes they were arrested inO. There were facilities for 4 000 juveniles in Pollsmoor but until recently 8 000 youngsters were imprisoned there. Two of his inspectors were sent to Durban- Westville after his office received a report from the Human Rights Commission that juveniles were being underfed and were allowed only one hourOs exercise a week because of staff shortages. He believes various OcreativeO measures could be taken to reduce the inflow into South African prisons, particularly among young people. He is helping to draft legislation to enable police to release accused people on bail. He also proposed an information sheet should be filled out by the investigating officer to help speed up the process. One of the options being considered was the release of awaiting-trial prisoners under the control of probation officers. The use of electronic surveillance for awaiting- trial prisoners will be introduced in South Africa next year.