Pollsmoor promises to reduce massive overcrowding

The Department of Correctional Services has promised to dramatically reduce severe overcrowding at Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility in Cape Town over the next six months.

NGO Sonke Gender Justice found the prison in Tokai had been operating at 250% of capacity‚ and went to court to force the government to deal with the overcrowding and poor conditions.

In a judgment earlier this month‚ the Cape Town High Court ordered the government to draw up a comprehensive plan to address unlawful conditions at the prison and to show why it should not reduce overcrowding to 120%.

Yesterday‚ correctional services filed an affidavit, saying it would bring the detainee population at Pollsmoor to 150% of its 1 619-prisoner capacity within six months.

Sonke prison specialist Ariane Nevin said the organisation was satisfied with the compromise, but wanted to see the detailed plan. “The department said it would be too difficult to reduce overcrowding to 120% because it would have too many implications for other facilities‚ and it would be very expensive‚” Nevin said.

Correctional services spokesman Logan Maistry would not say where the roughly 1 600 detainees would be moved to.