Prisons budget up by R2 billion but staff count set to shrink

[Nat Quinn]

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will be getting another R2 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing its budget to R29.2 billion, but the department is making efforts to cut costs, including through staff reduction.

In 2024/25 the DCS employed 39 599 personnel at a cost of R19.4 billion. This number is set to decline slightly to 39 204 in 2025/26, and 38 882 in 2026/27, according to the latest Estimates of National Expenditure (ENEs) published last week.

As staff continue to account for most DCS spending, National Treasury is looking to trim head counts from personnel intensive government departments such as correctional services and defence.

According to budget documents, Treasury has allocated R4.4 billion in 2025/2026 and R6.6 billion in 2026/2027 to incentivise public sector employees over 55 to take early retirement.

“There are certain departments that are more personnel-intensive than others and that have had problems with their budgets for their compensation of employees’ budgets. Two good examples of these are the Department of Correctional Services and the Department of Defence,” National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse said during a briefing last week.

Efforts are already being made to cut the Department of Correctional Services’ spending. A new meal plan was recently introduced to reduce costs, sparking complaints from some inmates.

DCS animals have also felt the effects of reduced spending. The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) on 11 March reported that severe “cost-containment” measures are directly affecting the feeding of animals kept at the country’s 21 agricultural correctional centres.

“These animals – including pigs, dairy cattle, poultry, equine used in mounted units, and dogs in the Department’s canine units – are now facing critical food shortages,” the NSPCA said.

Inspections across the country found that animals are receiving insufficient and inappropriate feed, which is being rationed due to shortages. Previously, pigs were fed species-specific food twice daily, but they are now receiving a diluted mixture of the limited stock – only once a day, the NSPCA said. Some pigs had to be euthanised as a result.

Correctional Centres keep farm animals primarily to produce food for inmates. There is an estimated one million animals kept at agricultural correctional facilities.

NSPCA inspector Navesh Singh told Daily Maverick that in some cases, suppliers haven’t been paid for six months and have stopped supplying food to prison farms.

Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald, after being informed of the SPCA’s report, told Daily Maverick that, “Immediate steps have been taken to implement corrective measures to ensure the welfare of all animals under our care.”

 

source:Prisons budget up by R2 billion but staff count set to shrink – defenceWeb

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