Correctional services projects R749m overrun as overcrowding drives food costs

Experts say every additional inmate creates a recurring daily cost, particularly food.

The Department of Correctional Services says rising food costs linked to overcrowding are driving a projected R749 million over-expenditure in 2026/27, while experts warn the pressure reflects wider failures across the criminal-justice system.

The DCS is under mounting pressure following the over-expenditure reported for the 2026/27 financial year.

This was revealed during a parliamentary session last week, where the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services called for a robust financial recovery plan to address the issue.

The DCS’s first quarter performance report revealed that rising food costs, largely driven by overcrowding in correctional facilities, were the main contributor to the projected overspend.

Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng, the committee chairperson, said the more inmates were admitted into correctional facilities, the more the department would need to spend on food.

"We therefore want a proper financial recovery plan outlining how the department intends to mitigate this over-expenditure,” Ramolobeng said during the parliamentary session.

Criminologist Nirmala Gopal said the DCS’s budget overrun could be attributed to various factors, inter alia, the higher costs in procurement that the department did not consider in its projected budget.

“Other factors, after close scrutiny, include whether there has been mismanagement of funds, procurement of items not originally budgeted for, or, as the report indicates, an increase in inmate population.

“This notion takes us back to the discourse on the increasing nature of crime, which is usually associated with poor socio-economic conditions. If the over-spend is a concern for the department, which it should be, then a holistic approach in terms of rehabilitation of inmates and crime prevention strategies should be considered collaboratively,” said Gopal.

She said the department needed to reduce the inmate population and one of the most effective ways was to reduce the opportunities thereof on two levels, namely providing legitimate means through which individuals support their livelihoods, and ensuring an increase in effective policing.

“Further, depending on the categories of inmates, the department should divert petty and juvenile offenders to programs with opportunities for effective and time-sensitive positive outcomes.”

Andy Mashaile, a security strategist for the Institute for Security Studies, said the DCS’s projected over-expenditure should not be viewed simply as a financial-management problem.

He said it was a symptom of a much deeper criminal-justice-system capacity problem involving policing, prosecution, courts, sentencing, bail, remand detention, parole, rehabilitation and reintegration.