SA prisons 52% overcrowded, MPs told

PRISONS are jammed at more than 50% above capacity. Figures presented to parliament’s correctional services portfolio committee yesterday 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%.

- BRANDON NEL

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.

Categories of unnatural deaths included suicide, homicide, substance overdose, and other unknown causes. The department reported that suicide was the leading cause of confirmed unnatural deaths. Between 2022/23 and 2025/26, there were 67 suicides, 55 homicides, eight substance overdoses, and 22 deaths from unknown causes.

Contributing factors, according to the presentation, included lack of supervision in prison units, shortages of staff, overcrowding, delays in handling inmate complaints, and widespread mental health problems. Unnatural deaths in prisons have been rising, the report stated.