The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) is working on a proposed bail fund for deserving remand detainees who have been granted bail but cannot afford to pay it.

There are 2,613 detainees who have been granted bail of less than R1,000 but cannot afford the amount, making them "prisoners of poverty", the inspectorate told MPs on Tuesday.

The correctional services committee heard a pilot project will soon be launched, likely in the Western Cape, to test the functioning of the fund.

The JICS said the fund would benefit only those accused who the courts have determined will stand trial, are not a danger to the public, will not commit further offences while out on bail, will not present a danger to state witnesses and have a fixed address. Remandees accused of certain crimes, for example gender-based violence, are likely to be excluded.

The inspectorate, headed by former constitutional court judge Edwin Cameron, has discussed the project with the department of correctional services, the National Prosecuting Authority, civil society and others in a working meeting to plan a way forward.

A pilot project with the assistance of the Africa Criminal Justice Reform team at the University of the Western Cape is envisaged as the next step. MPs were told half the costs of the test case would be covered by "unsolicited philanthropic funding" and "the JICS will consider how to secure further funding".

Correctional services committee chair Kgomotso Ramolobeng said she would like greater public input before the project is rolled out.

Ramolobeng said several committee members were of the opinion that communities feared accepting awaiting trial offenders back into communities due to the risk of reoffending.

"During recent oversight visits to correctional centres we noted lots of awaiting trail detainees, including juveniles, where low amounts of bail under R500 were set. On inquiry from the committee, they indicated families do not want to pay even the low amounts in the belief the youths caused mischief in communities. Our impression was that if they were inside a detention centre, they were out of the family’s hair," she said.

MPs wanted to know how offenders in the programme would be monitored after release and input regarding the ease of the bail money being forfeited if it was not paid by the accused and their families.