Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
CHIKURUBI Female Prison was the home of 24 babies, who were living with their jailed mothers, by the end of last year.
It was the highest number of babies, who were staying at the prison with their mothers, since 1970.
Against that background, the Senate wants to see an expansion of open prison facilities for pregnant women, nursing mothers and mothers with young children.
Senators say this will ensure that children were not punished for crimes they did not commit.
Moving the motion on Tuesday, Senator Angeline Tongogara said the reforms were about better service of justice, not soft justice.
“I move the motion standing in my name that this House, cognisant that both men and women commit offences within the jurisdiction of Zimbabwe, concerned that pregnant women, nursing mothers and mothers with toddlers, who are convicted of offences, may be incarcerated alongside their young children,” she said.
“Worried that these innocent infants and toddlers are subjected to the prison environment through no fault of their own, often to the detriment of their physical, emotional and psychological development.”
Sen Tongogara said the motion was grounded in Section 71 of the Prisons and Correctional Services Act [Chapter 7:11], which permits mothers to keep infants with them while in custody.
It was also rooted in the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, known as the Bangkok Rules.
“This is not a motion against justice. It is a motion for better justice because a just system should punish those who have committed offences, not the innocent children who happen to be born to them,” she said.
“Mr president, when the State sends a woman to prison, it is exercising one of its greatest powers but when that woman is nursing an infant, the State acquires another responsibility to ensure that an innocent child does not become an unintended casualty of our justice system.”
She said 24 babies may appear statistically small, but the principle is significant.
“Mr president, 24 may sound like a small number, it is not because this debate is not about statistics, it is about principles.
“If even one child spends the earliest years of life in conditions that compromise health, nutrition, emotional development and dignity, then Parliament has a duty to ask whether we are administering justice wisely,” Sen Tongogara said.
She said prisons were designed to restrict liberty, not to raise children, citing overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, shortages of medicines and limited prenatal and postnatal care.
Sen Tongogara commended the establishment of Marondera Female Open Prison as proof that Zimbabwe can balance accountability with rehabilitation.
“Open prisons are not holiday camps. They are structured correctional institutions with supervision, discipline, rehabilitation and accountability,” she said.
“For nursing mothers, this model offers another crucial benefit.
“It allows children to grow in healthier surroundings while preserving the essential bond between mothers and children during the earliest years of life.”
