Department of Justice and Correctional Services

The Department of Justice and Correctional Services is the justice ministry of the South African government. The department provides administrative and financial support to the court system and the judiciary (which are constitutionally independent of the executive), oversees the National Prosecuting Authority, provides legal advice and representation to organs of state, facilitates law reform and is responsible for the country's Correctional Services.

Contents

• Correctional centres
• Notable prisons
• Branches
• References

Prior to May 2014, Correctional Services was a separate department and the justice department was named the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

The political head of the department is the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, who is supported by two deputy ministers. The incumbent minister is Michael Masutha and his deputies are John Jeffery (Justice and Constitutional Development) and Thabang Makwetla (Correctional Services). At the time of the 2014 national budget, Justice and Correctional Service were still two separate departments; R15,161.9 million was appropriated for Justice, while R19,721.1 million was appropriated for Correctional Services. In the 2012/13 financial year the Department of Justice had 23,780 employees and the Department of Correctional Services had 40,165.

The correctional division of the department has about 34,000 staff and is responsible for the administration of 240 prisons, which accommodates about 189,748 inmates. The prisons include minimum, medium and maximum security facilities. The political head of the department is the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, currently Michael Masutha.