Effective justice delivery system sees prisons overcrowding

THE over-crowding at the country’s prisons where the population of inmates has recently doubled the holding capacity of the available infrastructure has been attributed to the citizens’ knowledge of the law and the effective delivery of justice through the courts.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Permanent Secretary, Mrs Vimbai Nyemba, said this on the sidelines of Anju Farm Prison tour in Matabeleland North last week.

Mrs Nyemba, together with the Deputy Minister of Justice, Advocate Norbet Mazungunye, have been conducting a familiarisation tour of prisons in Matabeleland region since last week.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner-General, Moses Chihobvu, is leading the officials on the familiarisation tour.

Mrs Nyemba and Adv Mazungunye are new to the ministry as they were both appointed after the President was re-elected in the 2023 harmonised elections.

“We notice that there are a lot of challenges in terms of accommodation, prisons are overcrowded. But it also shows that Zimbabwe as a country, people now know the law, they have access to justice and people report cases and there are so many prisoners, it is a plus for us,” she said.

Mrs Nyemba said most of the prisons have 200 percent of their holding capacities and there is a need to construct more correctional facilities to retain the dignity of inmates.

Already plans are on course to build a new prison in Gwanda, Matabeleland South and another in Mashonaland West. In Matabeleland region, only the Victoria Falls Prison is not crowded, said Mrs Nyemba.

“We now need to build new prisons so that they are not squashed but properly accommodated and their dignity needs to be respected. I think most of the prisons are holding more than 200 percent, the number is double of what they are supposed to hold.

“I’m happy that in Victoria Falls Prison the number, which is in the prison is the same as its holding capacity.”

Mrs Nyemba, however, said it was not all gloom and doom at the prisons and correctional facilities as offenders were getting skilled in the process of serving sentences.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister Mazungunye said sexual offences, robbery and illegal mining constitute most of the crimes by inmates in the prisons.

“I think it differs from one province to another. Most of the cases the inmates are serving sentences that relate to rape, illegal mining and robbery. These are the most cases that are found in the prisons in Matabeleland region,” said the Deputy Minister.

He also lamented the overcrowding in most of the prisons saying most of the facilities were built during the colonial era.

“The structures, which we have were built during the colonial times. So, I think most of the structures are not habitable in respect of modern-day living. So, I strongly recommend that new infrastructure be built with respect to prisons,” said Adv Mazungunye.

“We need to build new prisons because there is overcrowding in most of the prisons. We may talk of amnesty and it may work but the long-lasting solution is to have new prisons.”

Comm-Gen Chihobvu weighed in on the issue saying overcrowding has created accommodation challenges for inmates.

He said the Government has, however, granted ZPCS the permission to build two additional prisons to address the problem.

“We have challenges of accommodation for inmates as well as our officers. The prison population has grown and our prisons cannot accommodate all of them.

“The Deputy Minister and the Permanent Secretary appreciated that. We have told them we were giving authority to build two prisons, one in Gwanda and another in Mashonaland West province,” said Comm-Gen Chihobvu.

He said the crowding also affects the prison officer and prisoner ratios, which affects the rehabilitation programmes that ZPCS is offering.

“Our officer to prisoner ratio is supposed to be one is to five prisoners and the more we have more prisoners then our ratio needs to change. The shortage of manpower in the prisons is very, very high.

“We have also noted that since we are a correctional facility, we have special sections, which we have established like rehabilitation, we have construction, health and we don’t include those officials in the general security duties,” he said.

Comm-Gen Chihobvu also said crowding affects the provision of clothing for inmates.-@nqotshili