The number of awaiting-trial prisoners in South Africa fluctuates dramatically according to the time of year, with "peak prison season" resulting in about 8 000 extra inmates crammed into already overcrowded prisons.
This is according to Gideon Morris, director of the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons.
He said "high season" peaked in February, March and April due to large numbers of arrests in December and January. Now, in winter, numbers were slowly going back to "normal".
Morris said it was difficult to manage with 8 000 additional prisoners.
'But it makes a mockery of the criminal justice system' "Imagine an extra four Pollsmoor prisons filled to capacity. That is the number of prisoners that we have to make room for."
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The result is often lengthy waits for awaiting-trial prisoners, some of whom have been known to "rot" for up to four years before their cases come to court.
In 2004 Weekend Argus reported on an 82-year-old American had been awaiting trial in Pollsmoor for four-and-a-half years, during which time one of his co-accused died.
The case against alleged fraudster Edwin Hunsaker made the headlines and a month later charges against him were dropped in the Cape Town magistrate's court.
The South African Prisoner's Organisation for Human Rights said there were close to 50 000 awaiting-trial prisoners out of a total 162 587 inmates in 240 prisons in the country.
'Some inmates were seriously ill' In June the organisation handed a memorandum to the department of justice and constitutional development, asking that unaffordable and restrictive bail conditions be addressed.
It also recommended non-violent first offenders, as well as terminally ill offenders, be released pending their hearings.
Sapohr spokesperson Golden Miles Bhudu said he was concerned about the rampant "don't care" attitude that prevailed.
"It seems there is a perception that whether people do their jobs as police or in the courts, or don't, they will still get paid their salaries.
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