South Africa needs R36 billion to build more prisons

Although more beds have been added to South Africa’s prison system, more prisons are needed to ease the overcrowding in the nation’s correctional services.

Responding to a parliamentary Q&A, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said that the need to increase the national bed space capacity is receiving attention through the construction of new facilities, the upgrade of outmoded facilities, the regaining of lost bed space, and the refurbishment of dilapidated facilities from funding from the National Treasury.

From September 2023 to July 2024, the nation’s bed space capacity increased by 2,700 to 107,346 beds in total.

Nevertheless, the average overcrowding rate of roughly 46% means that there is an urgent need to construct a total of 50,000 bed spaces.

“This requires the construction of 100 new Correctional Centres with a bed space capacity of 500 each, or alternatively 50 new Correctional Centres with a bed space of 1,000 each, said Groenewald.

Using the 2022/23 Property & Construction Africa Cost Guide, the Minister said that the Department will need an estimated capital allocation of R36 billion for the construction of new Correctional Centres:

• 1,000 inmate bed space Medium Correctional Centre: R680,000 – R725,000 per bed-space,

• 500 inmate bed space Medium Correctional Centre: R725,000 – R 810,000 per bed-space,

• High / Maximum Security Correctional Centre: R1,080 000 – R1,400,000 per bed-space

However, the Minister acknowledged that the current fiscal environment will not be accommodative of this R36 billion requirement.

There are currently 69 infrastructure projects that are registered, including a combination of capital and maintenance projects.

The following notable Correctional Centres are in the works to address overcrowding:

• Burgersdorp: The project for the construction of a 500-bed Correctional Centre at Burgersdorp was handed over to a contractor in April 2022, and it is expected to be finalised during 2026.

• Parys: The construction contract was terminated during February 2023, due to poor performance of the contractor. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) appointed a replacement contractor in December 2023. The site was handed over and the expected completion date is 2026.

Further pain for inmates

In a separate response, Groenewald revealed that only 4% of the nation’s 243 correctional centres are in a good state.

Based on a condition assessment of correctional centres, it was found that:

• 4% (10) are in a good state;
• 15% (36) are in a fair to good state;
• 17% (41) are in a fair state;
• 58% (141) are in a fair to poor state; and
• 6% (15) are in a poor state.

The Department’s performance plan also revealed that the inmate population is just over 157,000, of which unsentenced inmates comprise over a third.

“The over-utilisation of facilities due to constant and overwhelming levels of overcrowding contributes to the rapid decay of infrastructure integrity,” said Groenewald.

“This growing population has serious implications. Inmates face longer confinement in overcrowded conditions, straining resources and heightening security and health risks.”

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