Harare — The country's prisons are not overcrowded as there are about 14 000 inmates against a capacity of 18 000 following measures by Government to decongest the correctional facilities, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Addressing the Chinhoyi Press Club last week, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa revealed that the imposition of non-custodial sentences, such as community service, had resulted in the decongestion of the country's prisons.

The revelation flies in the face of private media and non-governmental organisation claims that prison conditions had deteriorated after the prison population had greatly exceeded capacity.

"There was a time when the country's prisons were full around 2000, but Government has since come up with measures to decongest them and I am happy to say the population has dropped to levels below our capacity," he said.

However, he conceded that his ministry was struggling to provide some of the statutory requirements such as uniforms, blankets and sufficient food, because of the challenging economic environment prevailing in Zimbabwe.

Against a projected budget of US$17 million this year, the ministry only got about US$500 000, which was insufficient to adequately run the prisons.

He pointed out that prison farms were doing well in terms of providing food for inmates, while on the business community and well-wishers to provide inputs that could be in projects that include furniture making, dressmaking and farming among others.

"We have very productive people in our prisons who need support in getting inputs, especially at our farms.

"They have the capacity to feed themselves and also provide for other uniformed forces if properly resourced," he said.

He said the ministry was aiming to raise standards at closed prisons to those found at Conmarra Open Prison.

He said international organisations like the Red Cross were assessing the needs of prisons and rendering assistance.

The ministry, he said, was lobbying for prisons to be upgraded to a stand-alone ministry so that they could get direct funding from treasury.