Critical under-funding in Zimbabwes prisons has led to inmates going without clothes or bedding.The committee learnt that uniforms for both inmates and officers have never been adequate (but) the situation was even worse for inmates who exchange uniforms for their court appearances thereby exposing themselves to infectious diseases and that most prisoners were moving around naked, said a recent report by the justice committee.
Water and power supplies were also frequently cut off because the prison service owed US$3 million in arrears to utility companies ZESA and Zinwa.
When prisoners do have bedding, it is tattered and filthy and most go without.
The report also said the prisons themselves, most built more than a hundred years ago, were in such a state of disrepair that they had become dangerous and posed a security threat.
In addition, it was brought to the attention of the committee that out of 22 steam pots at Chikurubi, only two are working, hence there is an urgent need to modernise the kitchens and replacement of all the cooking and eating utensils as currently prisoners are using lunch boxes brought in by their relatives.
According to the report, vehicles and fuel at a cost of US$24m were urgently needed, as were tools and inputs for the prison services farms, allocated under the land reform programme.
Post published in: Politics