Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has welcomed the first ever electronic tagging of a South African remand detainee as an alternative to incarceration.
On April 9 , the Bloemfontein Regional Magistrate’s Court conditionally released Mr Ronnie Fakude, a 50-year-old paraplegic remand detainee who has been incarcerated at Grootvlei Correctional Centre since 2011, on bail on condition that he is electronically monitored by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
The minister said “We welcome the decision by the Bloemfontein Regional Magistrate’s Court to utilize electronic monitoring for a person awaiting trial – a first for South Africa,”.
“Overcrowding is the single most pressing concern facing correctional services around the world,” he added.
South Africa’s inmate population has been reduced from 187,000 in 2004 to 156,370 in 2013. Over the same period, the country’s incarceration rate declined from 403 to 290 inmates for every 100,000 persons.
As of 8th April there were 157,394 inmates of which 43,735 (27.79%) were remand detainees and 113,659 were sentenced offenders.
On average, 15 to 20% of remand detainees (approximately 8,700 inmates) are in custody because they cannot afford bail. Presently, it costs the taxpayer R9,876-35 per month to incarcerate an inmate.
For electronic monitoring, the monthly cost per tagged person is R3,379 a month. This equates to a saving of almost R6,500 per inmate every month. This initiative is aimed towards ‘Enhancing Public Safety through Electronic Monitoring’.
“Further, as a result of the implementation of Section 49G of the Correctional Services Act (Act 111 of 1998) in July last year (2013), the number of remand detainees, who have been in detention for more than 24 months, was reduced from approximately 2,200 in July 2013 to 1,816 in February 2014.
Section 49G of the Correctional Services Act, as amended, determines that a remand detainee may not be detained for a period exceeding two years without such matter having been brought to the attention of the court concerned,” Minister Ndebele said.
In 2012, Minister Ndebele announced the Electronic Monitoring Pilot Project (EMPP) for 150 offenders (mainly lifers). This enables operators to effectively track offenders, virtually anywhere, on a 24-hour basis, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-per-year.
The tag is designed in such a way that any violation is reported automatically to the control room within seven seconds, to enable the responsible correctional official, or police officer, to be dispatched immediately to the area where the violation is occurring.
