News / National
24 pardoned inmates back in jail
10 Apr 2018 at 07:10hrs | Views
A TOTAL of 24 inmates including five women who were released on Presidential Amnesty are back in prison hardly two weeks after gaining freedom.
A record 4 912 prisoners have been released from various prisons countrywide through President Mnangagwa's Clemency Order last month.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Banda yesterday said they were investigating reasons why pardoned inmates were back in the cells again.
"So far we have released 4 912 inmates from all the prisons countrywide. We have 24 inmates who have come back. We are investigating the reasons behind that and what really transpired," said Asst Comm Banda.
"If they have come back on the same offence that they were serving before, we will find out why they committed the same offence again."
She said the inmates could have committed crimes because the community did not accommodating them.
"It could be that society is not welcoming them and they then think of a place they can escape to and come back to prisons or it could be that they are habitual criminals. From the 24 who have been arrested, I know one of them is a habitual criminal. Five of those re-arrested are women," Asst Comm Banda said.
She said inmates pardoned on remission of sentence or on medical grounds would be the last batch of prisoners to be released on amnesty as medical teams are still conducting assessments on their conditions.
President Mnangagwa pardoned all terminally ill prisoners serving long terms irrespective of offences committed and those deemed not fit to complete their sentences due to ill health.
"The ill inmates are yet to be released because they need two doctors to check them as we can't rely on the assessment of one doctor. The doctors will assess the inmates and certify that they cannot complete their sentence," said Asst Comm Banda.
The medical teams had been given 20 April as the deadline to complete assessment of those that are to be released on medical grounds."
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services public relations officer for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Principal Correctional Officer Garainashe Moyo, said 700 inmates had so far been released from Khami Prisons and Bulawayo Prison.
PCO Moyo said 166 prisoners were released from Bulawayo Prison, 253 from Khami Maximum, 163 from Khami Medium, 67 from Khami Remand and 51 from Mlondolozi Mental and Female Prison.
He said 119 names of prisoners set to be released on medical grounds had been sent for verification in Harare.
"We are looking forward to be releasing the inmates as soon as the verification process is complete," PCO Moyo said.
The past weeks have seen reports of criminal activities mainly theft by ex-convicts who have been released on amnesty, raising questions about the effectiveness of rehabilitation and correctional services by the ZPCS.
A record 4 912 prisoners have been released from various prisons countrywide through President Mnangagwa's Clemency Order last month.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Banda yesterday said they were investigating reasons why pardoned inmates were back in the cells again.
"So far we have released 4 912 inmates from all the prisons countrywide. We have 24 inmates who have come back. We are investigating the reasons behind that and what really transpired," said Asst Comm Banda.
"If they have come back on the same offence that they were serving before, we will find out why they committed the same offence again."
She said the inmates could have committed crimes because the community did not accommodating them.
"It could be that society is not welcoming them and they then think of a place they can escape to and come back to prisons or it could be that they are habitual criminals. From the 24 who have been arrested, I know one of them is a habitual criminal. Five of those re-arrested are women," Asst Comm Banda said.
She said inmates pardoned on remission of sentence or on medical grounds would be the last batch of prisoners to be released on amnesty as medical teams are still conducting assessments on their conditions.
"The ill inmates are yet to be released because they need two doctors to check them as we can't rely on the assessment of one doctor. The doctors will assess the inmates and certify that they cannot complete their sentence," said Asst Comm Banda.
The medical teams had been given 20 April as the deadline to complete assessment of those that are to be released on medical grounds."
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services public relations officer for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Principal Correctional Officer Garainashe Moyo, said 700 inmates had so far been released from Khami Prisons and Bulawayo Prison.
PCO Moyo said 166 prisoners were released from Bulawayo Prison, 253 from Khami Maximum, 163 from Khami Medium, 67 from Khami Remand and 51 from Mlondolozi Mental and Female Prison.
He said 119 names of prisoners set to be released on medical grounds had been sent for verification in Harare.
"We are looking forward to be releasing the inmates as soon as the verification process is complete," PCO Moyo said.
The past weeks have seen reports of criminal activities mainly theft by ex-convicts who have been released on amnesty, raising questions about the effectiveness of rehabilitation and correctional services by the ZPCS.
Source - chronicle
