PF Zimbabwe Addresses Prison Overcrowding
Recently, Peter Mandianike, PF Zimbabwe’s Executive Director, addressed the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs regarding the substandard condition of Zimbabwe’s prisons. His intervention followed a senior prison official’s report that widespread malnutrition and disease is spreading in Zimbabwe prisons due to rampant overcrowding and the lack of funding for food and medicines.
With a capacity of just 16,000, the country’s prisons now house more than
22,000 inmates. Peter urged the committee to reconsider prison sentences for
petty offences in order to alleviate prison overcrowding. He noted that
approximately 60% of prison inmates are serving terms of six months or less.
He suggested that punishment for minor crimes should involve restitution to
the victim, rather than imprisonment for the offender. The committee is
expected to review the situation and prisons budget allocations.