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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has said society should reintegrate ex-convicts back into communities as failure to do so has led some former inmates into viewing prisons as safe havens.
In an interview in Bulawayo recently, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Permanent Secretary Mrs Virginia Mabiza said communities should accept ex-convicts as they are reformed while in prisons.
She bemoaned failure to reintegrate some of them back into society, saying it creates repeat offenders.
“We want to encourage and appeal to communities to accept the prisoners once they re-join society. For instance from time to time His Excellency through clemency orders releases a number of prisoners under the Amnesty programme. We have heard occasions and reports that some of the prisoners are not accepted back into the community. So what they end up doing is that they reoffend to find a safe haven to house themselves,” she said.
“So we appeal to communities to accept the inmates because they are better persons when they are coming out from prisons. The approach is now correctional – reintegration and rehabilitation.”
Mrs Mabiza said there should be a shift in mindset from an era when incarcerated individuals were condemned to rot in jail to the new approach that has seen inmates being capacitated with skills while in prison.
“Gone are the days where people would talk about rotting in prison because there is no longer rotting in prison. When you go to prison you come out a better person. Some are coming out as better professionals and empowered to take care of themselves and their families,” said Mrs Mabiza.
She urged the private sector to partner the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) in development projects it is undertaking.
“We have already embarked on the Joint venture projects where they partner with other institutions to develop what they are already into and assist prisoners with different needs and improve their facilities.
“Partnerships and partnering other organisations is encouraged and authorised in terms of Government policy,” said Mrs Mabiza.- @nqotshili
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