Bindura Prison under rehabilitation

Lea Mutanda

The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) continues to upgrade its holding facilities, in a bid to provide prisoners with internationally-prescribed prison living standards.

ZPCS Mashonaland Central public relations and principal correctional officer (PCO) Fidelis Pemhiwa told The Sunday Mail that Bindura prison had started undergoing such renovations.

“We have worked on staff accommodation and general face-lift of Bindura Prison,” he said.

“We spruced up the face of the prison by demolishing an old barrack that was grass thatched and replaced it with a five-roomed one. We constructed a gate keeper and visitor’s room with ablution facilities, something which was not there.

“We are also in the process of erecting a perimeter fence at the institution.”

Mashonaland Central is well-known for its high summer temperatures, a situation that has seen the ZPCS reduce the population of inmates in cells.

PCO Pemhiwa said Bindura Prison was constructed around 1910 and some of the facilities were overdue for refurbishment.

The ZPCS has 46 main prisons and 26 satellite prisons under its ambit.