Over 22 000 Foreign Inmates Add To Sa's Prison Overcrowding Crisis

Chairperson of the portfolio committee on correctional services, Kgomotso Ramolobeng, has expressed concern over prison overcrowding, emphasising the substantial role foreign nationals play in exacerbating the problem.

Ramolobeng said that the Department of Correctional Services houses 156 000 inmates, despite having only 105 474 approved bed spaces. Of these inmates, 36 are remand detainees, many unable to afford bail.

The department is responsible for 55 776 remand detainers, who contributed 36 of total prison population, IOL quoted her as saying during the Parliament's weekly committee cluster media briefing on Tuesday.

The committee also flagged the presence of 22 612 foreign nationals in prisons, including 690 serving life sentences, and the inappropriate incarceration of state patients who require mental health care.

The high number of foreign national is a dire concern the department is facing in the centres, Ramolobeng said.