The Select Committee on Security and Justice visited Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town to review the Department of Correctional Services' (DCS) operations, including staffing, programs, and infrastructure challenges. The visit was sparked by a viral TikTok video showing Zimbabwean national Bornface Banks, who is facing charges of murder, extortion, and firearm possession. Banks was transferred to a maximum security facility in the Western Cape and is due to appear in court again on 9 October.
DA member Nicholas Gotsell expressed concerns over the inhumane conditions for remand detainees, including no mattresses on beds, flooded corridors, and filthy bathrooms and toilets. He called on the ministers of justice and correctional services, Thembi Simelane and Pieter Groenewald, to urgently fast-track the use of virtual hearings as a first step towards addressing the issue of remand detainees.
The committee expressed its concerns over flooded cells and underused spaces at the prison and called for a Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster meeting to address the need to improve the processing of remand detainees and release funds for more virtual court facilities. Select committee chairperson Jane Mananiso praised the inmates' work in woodwork, steel, and textiles and called for more raids at all correctional centres to stop the smuggling of contraband.
In August last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced remission for non-violent offenders in South African prisons to alleviate the 43% overcrowding in the country's 342 correctional centres and 218 community centers. More than 24,000 prisoners were due to be released. In 2022, retired Judge Edwin Cameron reported that the overcrowding rate at SA prisons was 31.65%, down from 23% in 2020/2021. About 18,000 prisoners were serving life sentences, while in 1995, the figure was just 400.
