By CHUSA SICHONE
THE poor state of prisons in Zambia has been a source of concern because of inadequate improvement.
Overcrowding, poor diet, access to quality health services and lack of correctional facilities are the major challenges prisons are facing in the country today.
Lack of such facilities according to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) is, however, a violation of human rights because people are sent to prison for correction and reformation and not punishment.
In August, 2013, the HRC visited 90 places of detention to assess and inspect conditions, thereafter, make recommendations to redress the problems.
The facilities visited included prisons and police stations in Northern, Muchinga, Western and Eastern Provinces. Of these were 31 police stations, 36 police posts and 23 prisons.
The Commission conducted physical inspection of these places of detention and interviewed detainees and the officers.
HRC director Florence Chibwesha said the preliminary findings of the inspections revealed that little effort was applied to improve the infrastructure capacity.
The general conditions of detention have not improved a situation which is against the United Nations minimum standards on the treatment of detained persons.

• CONGESTION remains a major problem in Zambian prisons.

Congestion remained a major problem as most of the facilities were built during the colonial era to hold a smaller inmate population.
The most crowded were Chipata Central Prison with 758 inmates against the official holding capacity of 250; Mongu Central Prison with 570 against official capacity of 180; Milima State Prison 513 with against capacity of 200.
Mpika State Prison had 232 inmates against the capacity of 90, Isoka State Prison with 192 against capacity of 90, Senanga Prison with 130 against capacity of 50, Kaoma
State Prison with 114 against capacity of 40, Mbala Prison with 103 against capacity of 40 and Chinsali Prison with 108 against capacity of 40.
There was no physical separation of untried inmates and the convicted.
Remandees and convicts shared the same dormitory which is against the law.
Young offenders were not treated differently from adult particularly in prisons that had no provision for young offenders. Most prisons had improvised juvenile sections and used what previously were penal blocks as juvenile cells.
The wire separation between juvenile and adult sections was not ideal to prevent contact or communications from either side as was observed at Milima Prison.
Prisons were not designed to accommodate people with different disabilities such as physical disabilities and the blind.
The prison infrastructure was not adapted to accommodate different disabilities and address the challenges faced by inmates with disabilities as they lacked basic requirements such as provision of ramp accesses and officers trained in handling different disabilities.
Inmates were not provided with enough food of nutritional value adequate for their health and wellbeing in strict compliance with the recommended levels.
The inmates were made to have combined lunch and supper as meals could not be prepared separately due to lack of electricity supply whereby prisons depend on firewood which is not readily available.
Only a few prisons had clinics or sick bays to provide healthcare to inmates; some had drug kits for emergencies that were not well-stocked or lacked the basic medicines; and the rest relied on government health institutions for medical services.
The lack of health services provision is a violation of inmates’ right to health and in contravention to Section 16 of the Prisons (Amendment Act) No. 16 of 2004 which requires that such services should be made readily available.
There was evidence of torture in the form of beatings or whipping with crude instruments; physical assault and injuries; and psychological abuse inflicted on detainees by the officers and fellow inmates.
The extreme torture incidents were recorded at Isoka Prison where all remandees were subjected to severe pain, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment during interrogations after a reported prison break.
The Commission interviewed all the 10 victims who narrated how they were abused and made to crawl on the floor, locked up in cell, not allowed to have a bath for days.
They were denied food and repeatedly beaten by officers using sharp instruments.
The inmates complained of harsh treatments from the fellow inmates.
Other detention places of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment were reported at Senanga Police Station with eight victims.
Others were Nyangu Open Air Prison with seven victims; Mpika Prison recorded two victims as was the case at Lukulu Police Station while Sesheke Police Station, Mongu
Police Station, Shangombo Police Station, Sichili Police Post and Sikongo Police Post had one victim each.
The general prison conditions were that most inmates had inadequate clothing or uniforms and shared few available blankets and mattresses.
There was also erratic supply of water at most prisons although some sunk boreholes to mitigate the problem like Milima, Chinsali and Mporokoso Prisons which were found to have better supply than prisons that depended on water utility companies.
The staffing levels were generally low in all the prisons visited.
The understaffing meant that officers worked longer hours than normal and posed a risk in terms of properly managing inmates and preventing them from escaping from lawful custody.
Inspection on police cells revealed that most police stations had no modern cells and the existing one were being used for holding suspects longer than the legally permitted 24 hours.
“This means that cells intended for short-term detention could be turned into places of extended residence for some inmates, leading to violations of human rights,” Ms Chibwesha said
Most of the police stations visited had no cells for women and juvenile suspects or remandees who were being kept in the corridors or improved structures like an exhibit room.
At Mporokoso, Isoka, Chinsali and Mpulungu Police Stations, women were found being kept at the inquiries section and sleeping on corridors while suspects at Matumbo Police Post were found handcuffed to a rim for lack of proper facilities.
Inmates at most police stations were overcrowded in cells that were filthy dilapidated and lacked proper ventilation and had poor sanitation.
The Commission recorded a high number of pre-trial detainees in police cells visited.
Many suspects and remandees were kept in detention amidst delays in getting witnesses, preparation of dockets and communication with the office of the Director of Public Prosecution.
Many remandees were made to remain in detention for prolonged periods awaiting committal to the High Court for trial, sentencing by the High Court or cause-listing.
Zambian Prisons were primarily designed for male inmate when assessed against the available cells, facilities for healthcare, food preparation, work and training.
The prison environment does not provide women with basic necessities such as appropriate accommodation, sanitary napkins, soap or additional nutrition for pregnant and breastfeeding prisoners.
It also discovered gender inequality in accessing educational programmes or benefiting from enjoying the limited recreational activities provided in prisons.
The Commission’s interviews with inmates revealed that juveniles had limited and, at times, no access to legal representation more often than adult offenders and that there were significant numbers of Juveniles in prisons awaiting confirmation of their sentences to reformatory school for extended periods ranging from six months to three years.
Facilities to ensure the health and development of a child are lacking or inadequate in prisons as none of the prisons visited had special provisions for protection of circumstantial children.
The Prison Service did not have special diets for children who go in prison with their mothers at the time of the visits.
The new infrastructure includes the new Kalabo Prison, Luwingu Prison, Mbala Prison and a new cell for female inmates at Chipata Prison.
The Commission was disappointed that the design of the new infrastructure overlooked important provisions and facilities to cater for the needs of inmates with disabilities.
But Zambia Prisons Service commissioner Percy Chato, who attributed the poor conditions of the prisons to lack of political will by the previous governments, said it was unfair to describe prison conditions as pathetic when efforts were done to improve the situation.
Mr Chato said the Government has been constructing prisons, citing the Mwembeshi Maximum Prison, Chitumba Open Air Prison and the soon to be opened Kalabo Prison.
Mr Chato described the nutrition levels in prisons as “excellent” because the prison is self sustaining because it is producing mealie meal and other maize products at its Kalonga Milling Plant in Kabwe besides growing other crops.
“We are not sitting idle. We are doing something about it. We are on a developmental path. We are building capacity to try and address the deplorable prison conditions so that we turn them into centres of excellence.
“Therefore, calling prison conditions as being pathetic is unfair. Moreover, some of those stakeholders describing prisons as pathetic have never even visited them to see what we have done and what we are doing,” he said.
He said the current regime was committed to improving the status quo as evidenced from the number projects embarked on.
It is however, important some presidential aspirating candidates in the January 20 election have not talked about how they could improve the conditions of the prison in the event that they are voted into power.