View Document - Parliament of South Africa

509 FRIDAY, 10 OCTOBER 2008
510
Overcrowded prison in EC
1408. Mr I E JENNER (ID) asked the
Minister of Correctional Services:
(1) Whether the Mthatha Medium
Prison in the Eastern Cape is overcrowded;
if so, (a) to what extent and
(b) what steps have been taken to
alleviate this situation;
(2) whether he will make a statement on
the matter? NW2147E
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES:
(1) (a) Mthatha Medium Correctional
Centre has accommodation capacity
for 580 offenders. By 30 June
2008, 1 161 awaiting-trial detainees
and 831 sentenced offenders
(total of 1 992) were incarcerated,
resulting in an occupancy level of
343,44%.
(b) Two meetings were held in
Mthatha on 11 August 2008 to
initiate specific interventions to
address the level of overcrowding.
The first was a Cluster meeting
attended by senior managers from
national, regional and local offices
of the Department of Correctional
Services, the Department of Justice
and Constitutional Development
and the National Prosecuting
Authority. The second meeting
only involved Correctional Services
officials.
The following resolutions were,
amongst others, taken during these
two meetings:
● Co-operation by all role-players
to consider the possible diversion
of ± 428 awaiting-trial
detainees with bail in terms of
sections 63A and 63(1) of the
Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51
of 1977, on an ongoing basis.
● Plea bargaining in terms of section
105A of the Criminal Procedure
Act will be marketed by
both the Department of Correctional
Services and the National
Prosecuting Authority through
notices and pamphlets.
● Awaiting-trial children will not
be referred to the Correctional
Centre except in exceptional
cases as stipulated in section 30
of the Child Justice Bill.
● A facility audit will be undertaken
at Mqanduli, Engcobo,
Nqqeleni and Mount Frere Correctional
Centres. A total of
± 600 awaiting-trial detainees
from these four Correctional
Centres are detained at Mthatha
because the ceilings of these
facilities are not reinforced and
need to be upgraded.
● The transfer of low-risk awaiting-trial
detainees to Correctional
Centres close to Mthatha.
● Implementation of a regional
transfer plan focusing on sentenced
offenders with a medium-security
classification.
The abovementioned resolutions
already resulted in a decrease by
46,20% in the occupation level
(from 343,44% to 297,24%) up to
20 August 2008.
(2) No.
Meeting with certain community
1528. Mr G R MORGAN (DA) asked the
Minister of Minerals and Energy:
(1) (a) What was the purpose of her
meeting with members of the community
in the Xolobeni area on
15 August 2008 and (b)(i) what was
the total cost to the department of