The Department of Justice said it has set plans in motion to reduce overcrowding at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town.
This is to meet the stipulations of a court order handed down by the Western Cape High Court earlier this week.
The court ordered the Department to reduce the number of persons detained at the Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility to 150% of the current approved accommodation within six months.
Justice Minister, Michael Masutha, said his Department has already set in motion a series of action plans for implementation by Correctional Services officials generally and the Pollsmoor Management Area in particular.
He says the ultimate objective is the realisation and implementation of the recommendations contained in the Cameron Report.
“The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services views it appropriate to also indicate that the overcrowding of detention facilities indicates a larger systemic ill in society, which is that of crime in itself,” Masutha said.
‘The Ministry therefore wishes to remind South Africans, especially young people, to obey the law and to be strongly deterred against criminal activity, especially since the festive season is generally a period during which such activity is known to escalate.”
“Crime does not pay. Under South African law, a person who commits even a minor criminal offence will have a criminal record for a period of ten years before they may apply for expungement of their record,” he said.
Minister Masutha said that “together with our colleagues in the JCPS Cluster, we remain committed to building a victim-friendly criminal justice system.We are committed to building on the victim interface of the 55 Thuthuzela Care Centres and our 50 re-designated Sexual Offences Courts which give priority to victims of sexual offences in particular.”
“Going forward into 2017, we remain committed to creating a Justice system that is more responsive to victims of crime. We will be revisiting our Victim’s Charter to ensure that we dispense justice in a manner that is informed by the experiences of victims of crime, as well as by international standards,” Minister Masutha said.
