THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) remains committed to improving healthcare for inmates and its officers as part of its efforts to rehabilitate and re-integrate offenders, an official has said.
ZPCS Commissioner-General Paradzai Zimondi made the remarks during the conferment of Badges of Rank to Deputy Commissioner-General (Doctor) Alford Mashango Dube.
DCG Dube, a medical doctor, became the first person from the specialist section and also from the Assistant-Commissioner level to be promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner-General.
Comm-Gen Zimondi said the move was a welcome development given the importance of health in the institution.
“Heath matters are considered to be of paramount importance by the Nation since human lives are at stake,” he said.
“As the Prisons and Correctional Services, we equally value good health of both our inmates and officers.
“In addition, there are also legal, ethical, social and public health reasons why we put emphasis on health in prisons.”
Comm-Gen Zimondi said health care played a significant role in the institution’s rehabilitation and re-integration thrust.
“The vast majority of inmates are expected to re-join society upon expiry of their prison sentences and as prison authorities, we try to assist them to successfully re-integrate into the society through our rehabilitation programmes,” he said.
“Therefore, proper health care helps to preserve inmates’ physical function, which makes it possible for their successful re-integration into the society since they would be able to embark on productive activities thereby avoid being a burden to the society.”
Promoting health for officers, said Comm Gen Zimondi, helped in ensuring improved health standards for prisoners.
“As prison officers we spend some time with prisoners as much as we do with the outside communities,” he said.
“It follows that in the event of an outbreak of communicable diseases in prisons, we are also most likely going to get infected and spread the diseases to the outside communities.
“I think we can now all agree that under such circumstances, the health problems and medical conditions that might be experienced in prisons become issues of public health for the wider community.”
Communicable diseases, also known as infectious diseases or transmissible diseases, are illnesses that result from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic (capable of causing disease) biologic agents in an individual human or other animal host.
Infections may range in severity from asymptomatic (without symptoms) to severe and fatal.
These include measles, mumps, whooping cough and influenza.
Comm-Gen Zimondi said the promotion of DCG Dube came at a time efforts were being made so that the ZPCS Act is aligned with the new Constitution.
The new Constitution was adopted in 2013.
“It is also our expectation that the time of facing some legal battles by some sectors against some perceived breach of inmates’ social rights, particularly issues to do with dietary and health issues should now be a thing of the past,” said Comm-Gen Zimondi.
The country has 18 000 prisoners against a holding capacity of 17 000 and 46 stations.
To improve on the dietary needs, ZPCS makes use of its prison farms to produce crops to feed inmates.