Open prison for female offenders mooted

FEMALE prisoners are set to benefit from the open prison system as government moves to implement the pilot project for females at St Thomas Prison in Marondera amid concerns of serious food shortages at the country's correctional centres, Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Obert Gutu has said.

In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Gutu said ordinarily women with babies would not be incarcerated in a conventional prison system as was the current situation in Zimbabwe.

"The deliberate main thrust is to have all female inmates put in open prisons. Government will be irresponsible to continue with a situation where female inmates stay with children in prison where there are food and clothing problems," Gutu said.

"The prison environment is not ideal for raising children . . . and resources permitting, all female inmates will eventually be moved to St Thomas Open Prison."

Gutu said the sole open prison in the country, Connemara in Midlands province, was too small and unable to cope with the huge inmate population.

"I would like to also take this opportunity to call upon Treasury to immediately increase funding to the Zimbabwe Prison Service as the food situation is dire. In addition, we also have a crippling shortage of prisoner clothing, sanitary wear and blankets," the deputy minister said.

Asked what criterion was used to select male prisoners for open prison, Gutu said: "There are professional prison officers who are equipped with relevant skills to determine suitable candidates for the open prison system."

Open prison is a system where inmates with relatively light sentences can check in at the prisons, but are free to visit their families during weekends.

In some instances, prisoners may be allowed to go back home every evening if they are able to report to the prison in the morning.