22 November 2008
Bulawayo — Prisons have started releasing inmates on medical grounds as conditions at most of the country's jails continue to deteriorate amid reports of an upsurge in hunger-related diseases.
In Matabeleland North, which includes Bulawayo, at least 200 seriously ill prisoners awaiting trial were released in the past week from various prisons.
Officials in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said they were releasing critically ill prisoners fearing "disaster" if they died in jail as mortuaries were allegedly overflowing.
"All ill prisoners suffering from hunger-related illnesses are being remanded out of custody because the Zimbabwe Prison Services (ZPS) is now failing to cope with the number of deaths," a prison officer said.
Another source said medical records of most of those being released showed they were suffering from hunger-induced illnesses.
Matabeleland provincial magistrate, John Masimba confirmed the developments saying prisoners were being freed on humanitarian grounds.
"Prisoners are being released on condition of ill health," he said. "I do not have exact figures of the number of prisoners released so far but it is an ongoing programme."
According to a recent report by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (Zacro), prisoners are dying in numbers because of widespread malnutrition.
The deteriorating state of the country's prisons has also worsened the prevalence of diseases among inmates.
Skin infections are the most common and prisoners are often brought to court with wounds that do not heal.
Earlier this month the ZPS came under attack from Bulawayo residents after two critically ill prisoners were dumped in front of the Tredgold Magistrates' Courts.
The two, Thembani Sigola from Siganda and Abel Mthethwa from Nkayi in Matabeleland North, were suffering from an unknown skin condition.
The ZPS, like many other government departments, is reportedly short of funds to buy food and drugs to treat prisoners suffering from various diseases including tuberculosis caused by serious overcrowding.
"There is no nutritional food in all of the country's prisons," Zacro said in its report. "The prisoners just eat in order to survive, especially at Harare Central prison and Chikurubi prison where the situation is worse because inmates are sometimes only given one meal a day.
"The two prisons are losing not less than two people a day and to make matters worse the ZPS is not able to provide a proper pauper's burial for some of these prisoners."
ZPS officials were not immediately available for comment.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Patrick Chinamasa is on record saying "prison conditions are supposed to be bad because they are not hotels".
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