9 September 2025
Prisons are jammed at more than 50% above capacity.
Figures presented to parliament’s correctional services portfolio committee on Tuesday show that SA prisons held 163,179 inmates in the first quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, compared with an approved bed space of only 107,067.
This means correctional facilities are overcrowded by 52%.
Of the total inmate population, 104,957 (64%) were sentenced offenders and 57,891 (36%) were remand detainees, including 331 state patients.
The presentation showed that overcrowding was straining various aspects of prison management.
Deaths among inmates remained a serious issue, MPs heard.
In the past three years and the first quarter of 2025/26, a total of 1,718 prisoners died.
Of these, 1,144 were from natural causes, 152 were confirmed as unnatural deaths, and 422 were still under investigation, the presentation showed.
Source:IO
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