Management of Remand Detainees in South Africa - DCS-Home

Inadequate systems for monitoring institutions that arrest, prosecute, adjudicate and detain
RDs.
9.3. Key Recommendations based on International Best Practices
The following recommendations are made:
There should be an agreed upon terminology and definitions applicable to the accused
persons in detention based on the court warrant (J7). The terms “Remand Detainee” and
“Remand Detention” are proposed instead of “Awaiting Trial Detainee” or “Awaiting Trial
detention”. The adoption of the terminology will have implications for Correctional Services
Act and its amendments and other related Acts. This will assist in dealing with the
confusion created around the definitions of such terms as inmate, unsentenced offender
and offender in DCS legislation and operational policies.
The national policy and legislative framework that governs the detention management of
RDs should adhere to international standards and conventions and limitations to certain
rights should be acknowledged. The international standards include the following:
o Guarantee of personal liberty and limitations involved;
o Adherence to requirements of international standards, conventions and instruments
such as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners;
o Politically binding commitments such as treaties, international case law and
customary laws;
o Judicial supervision and judicial confirmation of detention;
o Reasonable suspicion;
o Right to legal counsel,
o Oversight and monitoring of detention institutions
o Right not to be tortured; and
o Right to notify others
The establishment of branch in DCS should be adopted as a governance model for the
detention management of RDs which has been assigned by the cabinet. However the
functions of the branch should be clearly articulated as well as the relationship of the branch
to the existing structures of CJS.
The strategies for management of overcrowding should be developed and managed at a
cluster level because the drivers of the RD population are beyond the control of the
detention institutions. The key drivers are the trends in serious crimes and the use of pre-
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