THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing a progressive vision for correctional facilities centred on the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
This comes as the newly appointed (ZPCS) Commission is conducting familiarisation visits to correctional facilities across the country, with the latest stop being Mutimurefu Prison in Masvingo.
The Commission, led by Public Service Commission Chairperson, Dr Vincent Hungwe, who also chairs the ZPCS Commission, had an opportunity to tour the institution’s thriving agricultural projects, which include over 30 hectares of wheat and horticulture gardens.
“This is part and parcel of an ongoing exercise that we have embarked on as ZPCS in the wake of a new set of commissioners appointed by the President. We are visiting all the provinces to familiarise ourselves with the reality of opportunities that exist and challenges that need to be transformed into opportunities by the new commissioners,” Dr Hungwe said.
“We are encouraged by what we have seen on the ground and this is something that is happening on the context of the current understanding of the mandate of the Prisons and Correctional Service. However, there are some quite interesting developments where we are now pivoting away from focusing on incarceration of offenders to a perspective that says, beyond incarceration, we need to rehabilitate offenders so that they become better members of society.”
ZPCS Deputy Commissioner General Social Ndanga, underscored the significance of the visits in giving the new commissioners a clear picture of the prison system’s realities and areas needing attention.
“Through these visits, in principle, what we wanted to see is the setup of the institutions so that the newly appointed commissioners are aware of what they will be dealing with, the gaps that are within the Prisons and Correctional Service and how they can intervene. Many of our prisons are doing well in terms of agricultural activities and above that, we are involved in the rehabilitation of our inmates. As you know, we are transforming from the punitive system to rehabilitation system. Hence, we ensure inmates are involved in many of our initiatives, including agriculture. We also capacitate inmates in the workshops.”
The broader vision of government is to modernise correctional services, improve rehabilitation programmes and ensure that correctional facilities contribute meaningfully to national development through productive activities.
