HARARE Christian relief organisation World Vision Zimbabwe says it plans to rehabilitate water and sewer systems at five prisons in Bulawayo, Beitbridge and Gwanda as part of efforts to improve health conditions at prisons in the Matabeleland region.World Vision said it plans to partner with non-governmental organisation Family Impact Zimbabwe in promoting health and hygiene at identified prisons in the three towns by providing basic supplies such as soap, disinfectant and other sanitary requirements to inmates and wardens.
Conditions inside the prisons are hazardous and require urgent attention, the charity said in a proposal document circulated among potential donors. World Vision is looking for assistance to enable it to drill or renovate boreholes and rehabilitate sewerage reticulation systems at the five prisons. It also plans to provide personal hygiene kits to inmates and wardens and the construction of toilets at the prisons.
Zimbabwes prisons have for long been known to be virtual death houses with hundreds of inmates reportedly dying in the jails because of diseases and an acute shortage of food.
According to local prisoners rights group Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender, at least two inmates die every day due to hunger and disease at Chikurubi and Harare Central the countrys two biggest jails. An outbreak of pellagra disease in 2007 killed at least 23 inmates at the notorious Chikurubi prison. Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease caused by shortage of vitamin B3 and protein.
A parliamentary committee that toured Chikurubi and other prisons in 2006 was shocked to find inmates clad in torn, dirty uniforms and crammed into overcrowded cells with filthy; overflowing toilets that had not been flushed for weeks as water had been cut off due to unpaid bills. The committee said in a report that the conditions in prisons were inhuman. However nothing much has been done to date to improve conditions due to a lack of resource.
Human rights groups have described the dire conditions in the countrys under-funded and overcrowded jails as an embarrassment to the criminal justice system. Zimbabwes jails hold about 25 000 prisoners against a designed carrying capacity of 16 000 inmates.
Although structurally sound, lack of maintenance has led to a breakdown in the basic infrastructure of the prisons. Corrosion and rust has crippled the piped water and sewage systems and the lack of cleaning supplies for both the institution and inmates has resulted in very low levels of hygiene in almost all 46 major prisons across Zimbabwe.
Post published in: News