Prisons overwhelmed, $1, 7 m needed for food

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.