Cape Town - During a Parliamentary written reply, the Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Pieter Groenewald said there are 75 psychologists and 602 social workers rendering services to inmates across the country.
This week, Groenewald’s office revealed Correctional Services faced a reduction of R11.7 billion over the past five years.
Janho Engelbrecht, DA MP, said data showed that there were 14 184 sentenced offenders participating in programmes as of October 1, 2024, with a total of 100 979 across the country.
Groenewald was responding to a parliamentary question posed by Engelbrecht on the total social workers and psychologists.
Groenewald stated there were currently 75 psychologists who rendered services to inmates and that there were 602 social workers.
He also added that there were 13 non-therapeutic correctional programmes that was offered to sentenced prisoners while 18 programmes were offered by social workers and psychologists.
He clarified that the department provided a range of short or long occupational skills programmes including TVET College programmes for inmates and that partnerships were made with the Department of Higher Education and Training, Sector Education and Training Authority (SETAs).
Engelbrecht, who carried out research and an overview on programmes and rehabilitation at prisons said there was a shortage due to budget constraints with one social worker for every 161 sentenced prisoners.
“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is facing an escalating crisis due to critical staff shortages brought on by budgetary cuts imposed by the National Treasury,” he said.
“Overcrowding in South African correctional facilities, combined with severe shortages in professional personnel, is undermining the effectiveness of DCS’s rehabilitation programmes and the parole system.
“The current ratio of professional personnel to sentenced offenders highlights the gravity of the situation: there is only 1 professional social worker for every 161 sentenced offenders, and only 1 psychologist for every 1,294 sentenced offenders.
“These figures reflect a stark inability to provide adequate psychological and social rehabilitation services which is central to the DCS’s mandate. It also leads to severe shortcomings in requirements critical to the efficient functioning of the parole system.”
Engelbrecht said case management committees, which are responsible for making recommendations on conditional placements and preparing profile reports, have to include a psychological as well as a social worker report.
He said during the first quarter of the financial year, 3729 offender profiles were approved for parole placement by the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards.
“With just 75 psychologists and 602 social workers employed by DCS, this means that each psychologist had to finalise an average case load of 50 profiles, while each social worker managed six profiles, over a three-month period,” he stated.
“These numbers account only for approved profiles and exclude the considerable volume of unsuccessful applications, as well as any other work with inmates that did not apply for parole, meaning the actual workload is significantly higher. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that many offenders are being granted parole without ever consulting a psychologist or social worker due to the overwhelming demand and staff shortages.
“This not only compromises the parole process but also directly violates DCS’s own rehabilitation requirements before parole placement.”
“As the last link in the criminal justice chain, DCS plays a crucial role in national security.
“At what point will the department be underfunded to the point of dysfunction? If DCS fails, the safety and stability of South African society would be at serious risk.”
Engelbrecht added another factor was drug addicted prisoners who lacked replacement therapy.
“These substances have severe withdrawal effects and if left untreated often results in drug induced psychosis,” he said.
“This is obviously problematic in a confinement environment with tragic consequences. The Care program in the correctional system represents the last step.
“If the system fails there, all that was done before then becomes obsolete. We have a rehabilitative system and not a punitive one.
“If rehabilitation fails at the last hurdle because of a severe shortage in professional personnel the entire system fails.
“In this environment where budgets are cut, the budget breakdown has to be done in such a way that it doesn’t cause failure at the last hurdle, which is the Care programme.”
Earlier during an oversight visit by the Judicial Committee and Correctional Services and the Minister to Pollsmoor Prison, staff working in the hospital wing of the facility said they faced various challenges such as prisoners who suffered withdrawals and became violent or those who tried to manipulate the system by pretending to be ill in order to avoid attending court.
Weekend Argus also approached Groenewald’s office on the shortage of social workers, spokesperson, Eune Oelofsen said in their response: “Psychological and social work services play a critical role in facilitating the successful reintegration of inmates into society upon their release.
“South Africa faces fiscal constraints that have resulted in substantial budget reductions across all governmental departments, including Correctional Services facing a reduction of R11.7 billion over the past five years.
“The Minister is on record that self-sustainability is paramount in mitigating the challenges posed by these significant budgetary limitations.
“In light of these financial restrictions, the Department will need to pursue innovative resource allocation strategies to enable sentenced inmates to lead socially responsible and crime-free live.”