Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald has recently disclosed that South Africa needs R36 billion to build new prisons in order to address the issue of overcrowding in correctional facilities.

Groenewald made the revelation in a written Parliamentary response to a question posed by Patriotic Alliance’s (PA) Member of Parliament (MP) Marlon Vivienne Daniels.

Daniels asked what other measures, particularly relating to building more prisons, were being put in place to deal with the crisis of overcrowding.

In response, Groenewald emphasized the urgent need to address the issue of overcrowding and additional beds at prisons despite recent efforts to increase capacity.

He said the need to increase the national bed space capacity remains a priority, adding that plans are underway to build new corrections facilities.

“The upgrade of outmoded facilities, regaining of lost bed space, and the refurbishment of dilapidated facilities under the auspices of allocated funding from the National Treasury,” Groenewald said.

Groenewalt disclosed that between September 2023 and July 2024, the bed space capacity has increased by 2,788, which increased from 104,558 to 107,346.

However, he said with an average overcrowding rate of approximately 46%, Groenewald stressed the urgent need to construct an additional 50,000 more 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,” he said.

Groenewald said according to the 2022 and 2023 Property & Construction Africa Cost Guide, the department will need an estimated capital allocation of R36 billion for the construction of new facilities.

He said a 1,000-inmate-bed medium correctional centre cost between R680,000 and R 725,000 per bed-space, while a 500-inmate-bed medium correctional centre cost between R725,000 between R 810,000 per bed-space.

“High or maximum security correctional centres, costs between R 1,080,000 and R 1,400,000 per bed-space,” Groenewald said.

He added that the current fiscal environment does not allow for such expenditures.

He added that the department has currently registered 69 infrastructure projects, which comprise a combination of capital and maintenance projects.

Groenewald said among the two key construction projects are aimed at addressing overcrowding in prisons.

The first is in Burgersdorp, Eastern Cape, a 500-bed correctional centre, which was contracted in April 2022 and is set to complete in 2026.

The second project is in Parys, in the Free State, where the construction was delayed after the contractor was terminated in February 2023, due to poor performance.

“The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) appointed a replacement contractor during December 2023,” Groenewald added.

He said the site was handed over and is expected to be completed in 2026.

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Prison overcrowding crisis: R36 billion needed to build new prisons, says minister