Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, has revealed that South Africa requires an estimated R36 billion to construct new prisons to address the ongoing overcrowding crisis in correctional facilities.
This disclosure was made in a written parliamentary response to a question from Marlon Vivienne Daniels, a Patriotic Alliance (PA) Member of Parliament, regarding measures being implemented to resolve the issue.
Groenewald emphasised the urgency of increasing prison capacity despite recent efforts to create additional bed space.
Between September 2023 and July 2024, bed capacity rose by 2,788, from 104,558 to 107,346.
However, with an average overcrowding rate of approximately 46%, the country still requires an additional 50,000 bed spaces.
Addressing this would involve constructing either 100 correctional centers with a capacity of 500 beds each or 50 facilities with 1,000 beds each.
Groenewald cited data from the 2022 and 2023 Property & Construction Africa Cost Guide to estimate costs.
Building a medium-security facility with 500 beds costs between R725,000 and R810,000 per bed, while one with 1,000 beds costs between R680,000 and R725,000 per bed.
Maximum-security facilities are significantly more expensive, ranging between R1,080,000 and R1,400,000 per bed.
Despite the urgent need, Groenewald acknowledged that the current fiscal constraints prevent such expenditures.
Instead, the Department of Correctional Services has registered 69 infrastructure projects, including both capital and maintenance initiatives, to improve conditions.
Two major projects aim to alleviate overcrowding.
The first is a 500-bed correctional center in Burgersdorp, Eastern Cape, which began construction in April 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2026.
The second is in Parys, Free State, where construction faced delays after the original contractor was dismissed in February 2023 for poor performance.
A new contractor, appointed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in December 2023, resumed work, and the project is also slated for completion in 2026.
Groenewald reiterated the need for strategic upgrades to outdated facilities and the refurbishment of dilapidated ones, while highlighting that funding allocated by the National Treasury would only partially address the capacity challenges.
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