via Prisons overwhelmed, $1, 7 m needed for food – New Zimbabwe 25/11/2015
THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) says it is overwhelmed by prisoners’ population which has exceeded the holding capacity by 12% causing them to struggle to feed inmates.
The country’s prisons have a population of 19 000 inmates against a holding capacity of 17 000.
Early this year, inmates at Chikurubi maximum security prison rioted over hunger resulting in the death of more than five prisoners and the injury of scores of others after the authorities had opened fire to stop a looming mass escape.
It was also recently reported that inmates at Chikurubi had gone for years without eating meat and only to be rescued by the national parks which supplied them with game meat.
Early this month, authorities revealed that there was also a shortage of plates to serve the scarce food to the hungry prisoners.
Acting ZPCS Commissioner General, Rhodes Moyo, told the state media Wednesday that government was failing to provide the normal three meals per day to the ballooning number of prisoners.
He said $1.7 million per month was needed to feed the inmates.
“If we are to feed each prisoner with standard food worth S$2 per person, we require $1.7 million against a budgetary allocation of about S$650 000 per month from government,” said Moyo.
He said they are running the prisons department with a deficit of over $1 million per month.
Moyo said private businesses are reluctant to partner with the authorities in income generating projects aimed at improving the plight of inmates.
“We have tried to partner some local companies but most of them did not own up to kick start proposed businesses such as poultry among others,” he said.
COMMENTS
Prisoners are still human beings, some of them may have committed terrible crimes but they are still human beings. Nelson Mandela once said judge a society on how it treats the worst people not the best within it’s own society. How are Zimbo’s treating these people I ask?? I would gladly donate to the prisons but alas I fear it would never get to the people we are trying to help, what does that tell you about Zim and Zimbo’s??? All of us???
Give me prison farms,equipment and starting material. With a 19 000 strong workforce of free labour, I will be able to produce enough agricultural products not only for my inmates but also a huge surplus enough to give a free launch meal to all children in rural primary schools.And the rest i would export in order not to flood the local market.That money will be used to buy school uniforms,books ,pay medical bills from the local industry.Time is the most precious gift we all have, so if we take somebodys time ,for example 20 years, then he must not only lose is freedom and sit in cell ,those years should be used for the benifit of the society.