Chronicle Editor
Amos Mpofu and Flora Fadzai Sibanda, Chronicle Reporters
OVER 700 recruits at the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) Ntabazinduna Prison Training School in Umguza district, attended a training seminar on Tuesday to capacitate them on protecting the rights and dignity of prisoners.
The three-day programme is being conducted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
It aimed at equipping recruit correctional officers with the knowledge that would guide them to uphold human rights when dealing with prisoners.
ZHRC is an independent constitutional commission that deals with the protection and advocacy of human rights for all citizens in the country.
Superintendent Graften Malikwe, who is an adjutant at the Ntabazinduna Prison Training School said the seminar will help the correctional officers to impart knowledge and skills to the prisoners without infringing their rights.
“We have 752 recruits that are participating at the seminar, of which 534 are male and 218 females. We have incorporated the aspect of teaching human rights in our syllabus, so that when they graduate, they already know when it comes to respecting the rights of prisoners,” he said.
“This is one of our values as it speaks on how prisoners should be treated with dignity. Therefore we feel such seminars assist them to uphold human rights.”
Some of the areas covered during training include, the Mandela Rules (formerly the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of offenders), constitutionalism, the criminal justice and prisons penal system in Zimbabwe, prison administration, rehabilitation, drill and weapon handling, health and hygiene and civic education.
Supt Malikwe, said being able to uphold the dignity and respect the rights of prisoners also helps sustain the integrity of the organisation.
ZHRC deputy executive secretary (programmes), Mr Vengesai Erick Mukutiri, said the programme covers several prisons across the country.
He said their role as ZHRC is to facilitate the learning of human rights by correctional officers ,so that prisoners are treated with dignity.
Mr Mukutiri, said the programme has been running for the past three years as part of the training for the recruits.
“The training structure is tailor-made for correctional officers, to understand the human rights standards in general in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and to also understand the general human rights of prisoners who are the primary clients in this case,” he said.
“This is also an opportunity to ensure that human rights for the vulnerable in prisons are upheld.”
Mr Mukutiri said correctional officers are expected to use a human rights-based approach when dealing with prisoners and this is where they get all this information.
“The prison officers benefit in the sense that the training empowers them with the knowledge to understand, protect and respect human rights, especially those of arrested and detained persons,” he said.
Topics being covered include training on human rights and human rights-based approaches to law enforcement and access to justice.
Mr Mukutiri said prison officials should understand different categories of human rights and issues to do with access to justice by inmates, as well as their rights to education as enshrined in the Constitution.
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