More than 80% of SA’s 240 correctional facilities are overcrowded, with prisons on average housing 61.85% more inmates than they were designed for, according to correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald.
Responding to a question by Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana, Groenewald said only 36 facilities were operating at approved capacity, underscoring the scale of the crisis and its implications for prisoner welfare, fiscal sustainability and judicial efficiency.
Data from the department, which was presented to MPs, shows the Bizana remand detention centre in the Eastern Cape is the most severely overcrowded, housing 168 inmates in a space designed for 46.
The Worcester male correctional centre in the Western Cape houses 1,409 inmates in a facility built for 405.
Provincial breakdowns show the Eastern Cape had the highest overcrowding rate relative to available bed space, with 21,853 inmates occupying 12,071 approved beds across 45 facilities.
Gauteng’s 23,153 beds accommodate 41,481 inmates, an overcrowding rate of 79.16%. KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape follow with rates of 66.85% and 64.98%, respectively. Facilities in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West recorded a combined overcrowding rate of 52.44%, while the Free State and Northern Cape regions reported the lowest combined rate, 27.35%.
Remand detainees driving overcrowding
Groenewald attributed a significant portion of the overcrowding to the high number of remand detainees — people awaiting trial — who now constitute more than a third of the total prison population.
“Remand detainees currently number 59,887 and cannot be transferred until sentencing,” he said. At Worcester, 1,250 of the 1,409 inmates are yet to be sentenced. The Johannesburg remand detention centre, which was built for 2,468 people, currently houses 6,393 remand detainees.
The department estimates that remand detainees cost the state R27m a day. Their management falls under the SAPS, while the department of correctional services remains responsible for sentenced offenders.
Unnatural deaths
A report presented to parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services identified overcrowding as a contributing factor to 156 unnatural deaths over the past three years, including 67 suicides and 55 homicides.
The justice, crime prevention & security cluster has established a team to address the situation. Groenewald said his department was implementing a programme to add 13,500 beds nationally.
“Two such projects are under way. One, the Burgersdorp correctional centre upgrade project in the Eastern Cape region, has been completed with an estimated 500 beds,” Groenewald said.
“The second project, the Parys correctional centre upgrade in the Free State and Northern Cape region, is anticipated to be completed in March 2026.”
The department’s strategy included direct measures such as parole placements, medical releases and sentence conversions. Its indirect measures included legislative reform, restorative justice programmes and community reintegration initiatives.
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