Nearly 15k foreigners in SA’s overcrowded prisons

Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West prisons hold the highest number of foreign national inmates in South Africa, with 14 920 foreigners behind bars across the country as of January 2025.

According to Deputy Minister of Correctional Services Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, nationals from Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe dominated the figures.

The Eastern Cape recorded 502 foreign nationals arrested, Free State and Northern Cape 1 679, Gauteng recorded 6 039, KwaZulu-Natal had 1 288 while Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West recorded a collective total of 3 474.

Prisons holding highest number of foreign inmates

“The reason the numbers are higher is because Gauteng attracts everyone looking for job opportunities and a better life.

“Most of those arrested are foreign nationals in violation of the Immigration Act.

“These include illegal miners, who operate within Gauteng.

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“We sit with home affairs so that when they arrest them for coming into the country illegally, they can be deported immediately,” Ntshalintshali said.

She said correctional facilities have an approved bed space capacity of 107 346.

But the system currently had 167 300 inmates.

System had 167k inmates

Those sentenced and supposed to be in jails total 101 841, while remand detainees stood at 65 187.

“If we didn’t have these remand detainees, the facilities would not be overpopulated.

“The remand detainees are an add-on, which is why our overcrowding exceeds 56%.

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“As the department of correctional services, we are constitutionally obliged to provide inmates with sufficient food, water and secure, humane environments.

“This includes access to rehabilitation services,” she added. She said the department had a strategy to reduce overcrowding that involved working with the justice cluster.

“We are having conversations and this matter has been taken up by the minister.

Matter taken up by minister

“The interaction between us and other countries – we just engage with them so that some of the detainees who are not South Africans can be taken back to their countries and serve the sentences there.”

According to the portfolio committee for correctional services, by March 2024 more than 22 000 foreign nationals were incarcerated in South African prisons, with more than 600 serving life sentences.

Committee chair Kgomotso Ramolobeng said in South Africa’s correctional facilities, each inmate costs taxpayers R13 552 monthly, or just under R500 daily.

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This covers essentials like food, water, electricity and basic needs.

Ramolobeng said the figures were concerning as the overcrowding also compromises security in correctional facilities.

“Overcrowding has an impact on every aspect of correctional services from staffing levels, bed space, security, rehabilitation, infrastructure and the budget.

Overcrowding

“In terms of rehabilitation, not all offenders will be able to access available rehabilitation programmes.

“Because of overcrowding facilities for rehabilitation become limited.

“The ratio between offenders and officials is seriously compromised in many of the correctional facilities.

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“This alone puts the safety of officials at risk,” she added.

The committee is due to meet the department next month and is expected to look at the number of foreign nationals in the facilities.

She said the department needed to review their organisational structure to be aligned with the current prison population.

Dept needs to review organisational structure

This was to ensure that the safety and security of officials, inmates and service providers is not compromised.

“The department has to come up with creative ways to address overcrowding in their correctional centres through collaboration with other sister departments in the justice cluster.

“Measures such as ensuring equal distribution of offenders in all correctional centres; implementing relevant sections of the Correctional Services Act.”

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