Prisoners to be force fed

Source: Prisoners to be force fed | The Herald August 1, 2016

Bulawayo Bureau
Prisoners are set to be fed by force should failure to eat threaten their health, new proposals in the Prisons and Correctional Services Bill say. The proposed law also says a correctional facility shall have a medical officer to ensure that every inmate is medically examined on admission and when being discharged from prison. It says the medical officer’s duties include force-feeding inmates to prevent the spread of diseases.

The proposed law says the medical officer “shall for the purpose of safe guarding or restoring the health of any inmate or preventing the spread or risk of any disease take such action or direct such action to be taken with regard to such inmate in his or her care including; force feeding an inmate, inoculating or vaccinating an inmate against disease, medically examining and treating against disease, isolating an inmate, providing an inmate with other necessary precautionary or prophylactic health measures to curb such spread or disease.”

The Bill states that inmates serving a death sentence or those in isolation or in hospital must be examined every day by a medical officer who visits the prison or the correctional facility every day.

“The medical officer shall observe the mental condition of all inmates under sentence of the death with a capital offence and for that purpose, shall personally examine all such inmates every day on which he or she visits in prison or correctional facility, and shall furnish reports on such inmates to the officer in charge in such form and at such times as may be prescribed,” reads part of the Bill.

It says that upon the death of an inmate, the officer in charge of a prison shall immediately notify the Commissioner-General, the medical officer concerned, the magistrate of the district in which the prison or correctional facility is situated as well notifying their next of kin.

It also states that all inmates detained in a prison or correctional facility shall have their mental state examined regularly.

The period an inmate is detained in a mental health institution while serving a term of imprisonment shall be considered to be part of the sentence.

The Prisons and Correctional Services Bill proposes a number of changes to promote the rights of inmates.

Some of the changes include considering parole for those sentenced to life in jail as well as providing employment and training for inmates.

The Bill also seeks to widen the rights of children and women by extending the time that children can be with their mothers in prison to five years from two years.