The inspecting judge for correctional services is driving an initiative to free what he says are “prisoners of poverty” — remand detainees who are incarcerated because they cannot afford bail of less than R1,000.
Retired constitutional court judge Edwin Cameron, who is head of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), told parliament’s correctional services committee that there were about 2,613 remand detainees who had been granted bail of less than R1,000 but could not afford to pay.
“The Bail Fund will address this gross injustice though it also will help to mitigate the evil consequences of overcrowding,” he said. Its aim would be to advance bail money to deserving remand detainees who not afford it.
Cameron stressed the fund would be independent and operate outside government structures, It would not need government approval or depend on taxpayers’ money, being funded independently.
A pilot project would be launched soon to test the functioning of the fund. Similar schemes had successfully operated in other countries, Cameron said. The JICS and the Bertha Foundation had concluded a feasibility study of the project and a meeting was held with various stakeholders to discuss the way forward.
“A fund of this kind is a public response through private means to a systemic injustice,” Cameron said. “Sustainable structural solutions to the problem of cash bail are critical.”
“The Law Reform Commission proposes legislative amendments to address the injustices of both cash bail and minimum sentences. The JICS strongly supports this.”
Cameron said remandees of certain crimes such as gender-based violence were likely to be excluded. The Bail Fund would only be extended to accused whom the courts had determined they would stand trial, were not a danger to the public, would not commit further offences while out on bail, would not present a danger to state witnesses and had a fixed address.
At the end of March 2024 there were 97,026 sentenced offenders, 59,370 remand detainees and 204 state patients, according to the most recent data from the department of correctional services. The number of beds available for such categories was 105,474, translating into an overcrowding level of 48%.
The department of correctional services cannot refuse to admit any inmate referred by a court regardless of the prison occupancy level.
Details of remand detainees were provided to the select committee on security and justice on Tuesday. At end-March 2024 there were 25,573 remand detainees who had been incarcerated for up to three months, 11,324 between three and six months, 10,016 between six and 12 months, 7,530 between 12 and 24 months, 2,651 between two and three years, 1,750 between three and five years, 473 between five and seven years, 44 between seven and 10 years, and nine for longer than 10 years.
At that time there were 1,166 remand detainees with an option of bail of R500 or less and 1,225 with the option of bail between R501 and R1,000.
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