Cape Town - The Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons is mooting a bail-funding scheme for prisoners who cannot afford to pay bail of less than R1 000 because of their financial circumstances.
Inspecting judge Edwin Cameron said the bail fund was partly modelled on funds operating successfully in several US jurisdictions.
“We hope to take what is good in bail funding and hope to evade the potential difficulties,” he said.
“The fundamental premise is that it is wicked and wrong for the system of administration of justice to free those who have money to pay bail, whereas those who simply due to poverty cannot pay bail remain in what we all sadly know are very adverse conditions in remand centres in our country.”
Cameron said they were worried about the high number of remand detainees.
South Africa currently has more than 150 000 prisoners – the highest number on the continent.
Cameron said there was a statutory provision that provided that people could be kept in prison awaiting trial for two years, but at that point a magistrate could make a special order for their release.
“You find that there are still a significant number of people who stay longer than two years – sometimes for even up to five or more years.”
The inspectorate has found that there are 1 884 remand detainees who could not afford bail of less than R1 000.
Cameron said a prison head had informed the inspectorate that it cost the state R10 000 per prisoner per month and R330 a day to house these detainees.
“It is a shocking cost upon our state and upon the budget of the (Department of Correctional Services).”
He revealed that the inspectorate had instituted a feasibility study that was conducted by the Bertha Institute at UCT to look into establishing a fund that would provide money for accused persons who cannot afford bail when it is granted by the courts.
“This is an unusual response that is conceived in the US and which we will adapt to our conditions in South Africa,” Cameron said.
ANC MP Nomathemba Maseko-Jele said: “We view this as an important idea that we feel will ease the overcrowding in our facilities.”
Maseko-Jele asked about the approach that would be taken to foreigners and those facing GBV charges.
Cameron said those accused of GBV would be cut out of the bail funding, and that foreigners might be considered on their cross-border status.
“We are conscious of focusing on the poorest of the poor,” he said.
ACDP chief whip Steve Swart said they were in agreement with Cameron regarding concerns about overcrowding in prisons, particularly among remand detainees, many of whom would not be found guilty at a later stage.
Swart also said the costs associated with the approximately 2 000 prisoners who could not afford bail was one of their concerns.
He said the existing legislative provisions were not properly used to reduce the number of remand detainees.
“We welcome the beginning of the process, particularly as the target group are those who are not a danger to society, but are in fact prisoners of poverty. It costs the state far more to keep them in remand,” Swart said.
Committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said they thought the initiative was very important because at its core it was trying to grapple with the problems of inequality in justice.
“It is an initiative we think everybody should talk about, contribute to, and enhance.
“You started the process, and we support it. We hope that other role-players will lend a hand to ensure it is a success,” Magwanishe said.
He also said the bail fund would not only ensure that poor people did not stay in jail because they could not afford bail, but also reduce expenditure that might not be necessary.
“It is an innovative mechanism whose time has arrived,” Magwanishe said.
Cape Times