Mhlanga, Grag Kulani2025-12-032025-12-032024https://hdl.handle.net/10566/21499The right to be detained in conditions that are consistent with human dignity, including at least exercise and the provision, at state expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment,1 in terms of section 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Constitution), is in jeopardy. Now retired Constitutional Court Justice, Edwin Cameron, on his visit to Pollsmoor Correctional Centre in 2015, stated that ‘the extent of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, sickness, emaciated physical appearance of the detainees, and overall deplorable living conditions were profoundly disturbing’.2 He made these remarks in relation to remand detainees.3 Though this was the condition of one detention centre, the problem is endemic in South African correctional centres.4 In Sonke Gender Justice NPC, Theron J held that ‘Any person who has stepped into one of this country’s correctional centres will know that, in many respects, the treatment of inmates and conditions of detention fall far short of [the constitutional standards].’ 5 Justice Cameron’s visit to Pollsmoor led to Sonke Gender Justice and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), approaching the Western Cape High Court (WCHC).enRemand DetaineeLegal FrameworkInmateCorrectional ServicesOvercrowdingThesis