Deputy Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Nobert Mazungunye toured the Harare Central and Chikurubi Maximum Security Prisons yesterday to see what is being done and what is needed.
ZPCS’s rehabilitation programme has seen inmates trained in that which will be handy upon their release from prison.
Speaking after the tour yesterday Deputy Minister Mazungunye was impressed with the training given inmates, but noticed the challenges in respect of institutional accommodation for correctional services and also shortage of inmate accommodation; inmates were overcrowded and had financial problems for their projects.
“The projects that they are embarking on range from carpentry, mechanics, sewing, and welding. It seems that the ZPCS is moving towards rehabilitating offenders; they are not in custody of the inmates. They are not there for the purpose of punishment, but basically for rehabilitation. With the projects that I have seen, it is clear that when the inmates perform their sentence, it is highly likely that they will be integrated into their society.
ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu said they want the Government to help them with the finances to help them run their projects.
“We are doing many projects, and they require financial funding. For example, if we are to do farming, it requires a number of things, such as machinery, he said.
Speaking during the tour at Harare Central Prisoner, Matron Chief Correctional Officer Harare Central Thembekile Thiili said they have a pharmacy section and a clinic for dependency and remand.
“Our pharmacy is supported by NatPharm, where we take care of mostly gunshot (wounds) that came from Parirenyatwa. There is also a TB infection section; three quarters of them are HIV positive. So we take care of them until they are doing better.”
The correctional officer from the workshop, Chief Correctional Officer Chinofura Farai, said they have 35 vocational training centres to rehabilitate the inmates. Herald
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