Parly pushes for better prison conditions

 LETTICIA MAGOMBO

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Gender and Development is pushing for improvement in prison  conditions for incarcerated women and children.

A damning report by Senator Chief Ndlovu led Committee shows that Zimbabwe prisons were overcrowded, unsanitary and were food insecure.

Currently, Zimbabwe has more than 900 incarcerated women, nine of which are imprisoned with their children while four women are pregnant.

Senator Ndlovu,  said: “The Committee, however, was dismayed to witness during the visits that all prisons are failing to meet the dietary scale as stipulated in the prison policy and procedures.

“Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) staff manning female prisons disclosed to the Committee that there was inadequate funding from the Government for the procurement of food that is required on the diet for children,” Ndlovu said.

He said most of the prisoners were relying on donations to survive.

“ZPCS staff members and prisoners confirmed that they depended upon donations from supporting partners and well-wisher organisations such as churches,” Ndlovu said.

Section 58 of the Prisons Act (Chapter 7:11) calls for the government to cater for the well being of infants incarcerated with their parents.

However, due to budget constraints the infants were now bearing the brunt of the challenges of incarceration.

“Nursing mothers and pregnant women reported that due to limited resources in prisons they do not have a balanced diet. In most cases, children are always getting the same rations just like prisoners without a special diet suitable for infants.

“Across all the visited prisons, it was brought to the Committee’s attention that those children faced problems in terms of clothing. Children require special warm clothing. The Committee was concerned to note that the Government is failing to provide for such services. Pregnant women require preparations, but this is not readily available in prisons,” Ndlovu said.

Another legislator, Omega Sipani-Hungwe, said the government should do more to ensure adequate food supply.

“We are saying we cannot rely on donations. The Government should step in with measures to ensure that these children get good food for their nutrition,” she said.

Hungwe also raised issues of hygienic facilities.

“In that room, there is the toilet and everything is done in that small space. We request that the Government should ensure that those  female inmates should be given another area for them to serve their sentence since it is a correctional centre.

“As women, we go through menstrual periods every month, so we need sanitary pads.

“Yes, we heard that they were provided with sanitary pads but they were not from the Government. This was coming from donors. We urge the Government to also channel funding towards provision of sanitary wear in prisons.”

Senator Joseph Chirongoma said: “The Social Welfare Department should be given a budget to ensure that clothing for these children is available.

“There is also a need for towels for female inmates with babies. They should be given time to breast feed their children so that the child can have a normal life. We agreed as Senators, both male and female, that we need to enact legislation to protect the children and we also need to avail funding for the protection of these children.”