Hon Deputy Minister, you have two minutes left. [Interjections.]
The Deputy Minister of correctional Services: While the protocol on maximum detention periods is being finalised, the department has been developing the ability to measure the length of detention of remand detainees. A brief look at the average number of remand detainees per detention period for April 2012 is informative. Only 49% of the detainees spent three months or less in remand detention, this being the time period that the Criminal Procedure Act has determined as acceptable.
Chairperson, I would like to respond to the issue of parole and remission. [Interjections.] Remission is a universally acceptable practice. It is done universally. We are not unique in doing it, and there are prescribed procedures for and ways of effecting remissions. That does not include what the hon Mnguni has been valiantly trying to convince us to do here! [Interjections.]
In any event, Chairperson, remission is not a substitute for other management issues in prisons, such as overcrowding and so on. So, it should not be seen as an alternative to what the hon Selfe has suggested. Those are concrete steps that we are taking in terms of our programmes in the department. I wish to thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]