OVER 200 mentally-challenged inmates are held up at
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison due to failure by the Mental Health Review
Board to sit and determine their fate for the past three years.
Briefing parliamentarians during a tour of the institution
yesterday, director of psychiatry Patrick Mhaka said at least 257 patients were
detained at the prison complex which had a carrying capacity of 150 inmates.
Mhaka said of the 257 inmates, 93 were detained mental
patients whose discharge is subject to approval by the board. But the board
members have not held any meetings over the past three years amid allegations
that they were demanding sitting allowances.
“We can’t release patients under DMP (detained mental
patients) without the approval of the board. It is the board that should
certify that this patient is now okay and ready for admission by society,” he
said.
Due to failure by the board to sit among other challenges,
Chikurubi is over-crowded with 2 675 inmates, against a carrying capacity of 1
360.
Mhaka said of the 257 mental patients, 160 were convicted
criminals serving various terms while four were civil inmates detained at the
behest of their relatives for various misdeeds that would have been caused by
their mental health problems.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services deputy
Commissioner-General (Administration) Alfred Dube said Health minister David
Parirenyatwa had appointed the review board, but it has not held any meeting due
to lack of sitting allowances.
“We appeal to you that you take this matter up. We have a
number of inmates here who are ready to be discharged but we can’t because
there is no board. We understand that this is because of lack of sitting
allowances. This has to be sorted out because it is affecting us in terms of
the holding capacity,” Dube said.
The parliamentary committees also toured the health
facilities at the prison, with key focus on HIV and Aids treatment which is
partly funded by the National Aids Council.
The MPs drawn from the Senate and the National Assembly
were told by prison authorities that 487 inmates are on Anti-Retroviral
Therapy.
Nobert Chomurenga, Officer-in-Charge at Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison told MPs that due to overcrowding, inmates were exposed to
health challenges such as tuberculosis and other related diseases. Newsday
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