South African prisoners working on farms and in bakeries to produce their own food

Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald revealed that his department is expanding programmes to make prisons self-sufficient, which will result in annual savings of R500 million.

Groenewald shared this during an interview with Biznews about the state of South Africa’s correctional services.

He said, like with most South African departments, Correctional Services are facing significant budget constraints.

To address this challenge, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is working to make prisons self-sufficient.

Groenewald said Correctional Services has 21 farms and 115 smaller pieces of land which can be used to produce agricultural products, including vegetables, meat, and milk.

“We are also expanding our bakeries. We already have eleven bakeries, and this week I am going to open another one,” he said.

Groenewald opened the department’s newest bakery at the Westville Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal on August 14.

Speaking at the opening, the minister said the prison bakery can supply a loaf of bread for R8. This expense previously cost the department R23.50 per loaf.

The newest bakery will save taxpayers R3 million annually, according to the minister. He has plans to increase the number of prison bakeries to 20 by 2028.

The department recently reported that the prison farms produced 56,374 kg of fruit and 199,073 kg of pork between April and May this year.

Apart from the farms, prisons also have wood, steel, and textile workshops. All South African prison uniforms and shoes, as well as those of prison officials, for example, are produced in these workshops.

In some correctional centres, inmates are used for some day-to-day maintenance and renovation tasks within the facilities, such as tiling and painting.

Self sufficiency to combat budget cuts

The goal of the Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability programme (SFSS), implemented in 2021, aims to reduce the running costs of correctional services and generate revenue by maximising production through offender labour.

The minister said in a press briefing that the programme is becoming more necessary as budget cuts to correctional services continue.

In addition to the R500 million saved per year, the products the inmates produce generate revenue for the ministry.

During the 2023/2024 financial year, the project generated R232 699 million in revenue for the department.

“We continue to work hard to save money. We have the facilities, and we must expand that,” the Correctional Services minister said.

Groenewald added that he views the work prisoners do on farms or in bakeries as part of the rehabilitation process.

“You cannot let prisoners just sit in jail and do nothing. Part of rehabilitation should be that they do something.”

He said the Department of Correctional Services has a constitutional obligation to ensure prisoners are rehabilitated. The work forms part of this process.

Each prisoner who works in these facilities will leave the prison with a certificate to demonstrate their skills, assisting them in finding employment.

Groenewald said the work prisoners do is valuable to make it easier for them to be reintegrated into society when their sentences are completed.

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Images from the correctional services’ farms, bakeries, and textile workshops