Prisoners gobble US$1,7m monthly

He also attributed the overcrowding to delays by the courts in finalising cases.
Invocation of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act by the State to keep a suspect in remand prison despite being granted bail was also cited as a contributory factor.
Justice and Legal Affairs Secretary Mr David Mangota urged stakeholders in the justice system to work collectively to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

The workshop was organised by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders.
Asst Comm Seulah said delayed justice was negatively impacting on the ZPS, which is mandated to feed, clothe and provide medical services for prisoners.
Suspects on remand are not engaged in any productive work.

“Government is spending US$56 000 on inmates’ meals per day. The impact on the fiscus is considerably higher in that taxpayers’ money is now benefiting remand prisoners and depriving the intended beneficiaries, who are the serving inmates.”
He said female prisoners bring babies into remand and the ZPS had to look after them before they are acquitted.
“The cost that would have been incurred by ZPS would have gone to waste. Prisoners on remand only do sedentary work and cannot do productive work such as farming but they get three meals per day like their convicted colleagues,” he said.

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Asst Comm Seulah said overcrowding was posing a serious health hazard and spread of communicable diseases.
“The health facilities and drugs that are meant for fewer inmates become overstretched,” he said.
He called for the expeditious conclusion of cases to save resources.

ZPS also proposed that all juveniles be remanded out of custody to save resources and spare them from abuse.
Mr Mangota said the State should not oppose bail on petty matters.
“You will hear the police saying bail is opposed because the suspect is of no-fixed abode when the suspect has a home.

“Do you think such people live in drains? Some will be having decent homes but it will just be a way of fixing them through abusing the court process.”
He urged stakeholders in the justice system to co-ordinate their activities to move the wheels of justice forward.
“Where one of them slackens in the performance of duty, all the players suffer with the result that overpopulation of remandees occurs.

“When that takes place, the nation suffers because all trial-awaiting prisoners will chew upon the fiscus without producing anything of benefit,” he said.
Mr Mangota said unnecessary incarceration may result in hardening or contaminating of fellow prisoners.

During the workshop, the prosecution outlined how it operates in relation to reducing overcrowding.
The plenary session heard that some senior police and prosecution officers instruct juniors to unreasonably oppose bail in petty cases, thereby contributing to the overpopulation.

Bulawayo provincial magistrate Mr John Masimba said at times he would not understand the independence of the prosecution when they insisted in opposing bail in a bid to have a suspect locked up on flimsy grounds.

“Who are those higher authorities that instruct prosecutors and the police to seek to secure an incarceration when there were no grounds?” he said.