Coming Soon: Fund To Help People Pay Bail

More than 2 600 awaiting-trial detainees are stuck in overcrowded South African prisons because they cannot afford to pay bail of less than R1 000. Many more cannot afford low bail amounts of more than R1 000.

The Bail Fund working group, led by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services JICS and with the support of the Bertha Centre and other organisations, will soon launch a small pilot project to help these detainees who have been granted bail but who cannot afford to pay it.

During a working group meeting on Thursday, JICS inspecting judge Edwin Cameron said the Bail Fund would address the injustice of being detained simply because of poverty and make an impact on overcrowding in prisons. Currently, there are about 742 people in prison who cant afford bail in Gauteng and 798 in the Western Cape.

We are a band-aid. We are not looking to make a systemic change, said Cameron.