Maravi

Prison congestion

Prison congestion
By The Post
Sun 03 July 2011, 10:10 CAT

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails and seen how prisoners are treated and live.

It is also said that a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones – and Zambia treats its imprisoned citizens like animals. The question we ask is: what type of a nation is this that has declared itself a Christian one? What is Christian about the way this so-called Christian nation treats its lowest citizens, its prisoners?

There has to be fairness in the way justice is administered in this country. And there is need to draw the attention of the nation to the way prisoners are treated and live in this country. We cannot ignore or turn a blind eye to the unfairness and injustice that our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned have to endure. Some of them are remand prisoners who don’t even know when their cases will be heard.

We are told by Percy Chato, our Commissioner of Prisons, that our prisons today hold over 15,500 prisoners instead of the 7,500 prisoners the prisons where built to accommodate. Chato acknowledges that our prisons are congested and the environment is not good for the convicted individuals.

We are also told by Dr Chileshe Chisela, the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, that the number of remandees was very high and this tended to have an effect on the number of people in prisons despite efforts to decongest them. And Dr Chisela says courts should quickly dispose of cases, especially the small ones, to ensure that the number of people in our prisons is reduced.

Congestion in our prisons is not a new phenomenon. Many people, including ourselves, have evidenced it and have spoken about it. Some of our editors have been in prison and have seen what conditions prevail in there. Stories have been written about how prisoners are packed like sardines without any room to stretch.

They sleep in a sitting position. They are open to all sorts of opportunistic diseases due to congestion. There is a limit to even how many sardines one can fit in a can. But it seems when it comes to prisons, our prisons have no limit to how many people they can take. Whatever number the courts send them, it would seem they have to accommodate even if they have exhausted their capacity.

Our judges visit prisons at the beginning of every criminal session. And they tell the same story about how congested our prisons are. But when they start sitting, they continue to send more and more people to these already congested prisons.

Religious leaders and other civil society activists have spoken about the congestion in our prisons and the inhumane environment under which our prisoners live. Politicians have also spoken about it. But it ends here – in speech. And no one seems to take responsibility. Everyone is washing his hands in the Pontius Pilate style.

No one seems to want to take responsibility for the congestion and the inhumane environment under which our prisoners live. The courts seem to be telling us that their duty is simply to send to prison those who deserve to be in prison whether there is space or no space.

And the duty of ensuring that there is adequate space and a humane environment does not lie with them, it lies with the prison authorities and those who supervise them. The prison authorities are complaining about congestion as if they are helpless and cannot say no to any excess prisoners that the courts send them. They seem to be telling us that even if their prisons are full to the brim, whoever the courts send to them they have to take him in.

There are many questions that the courts and the prison authorities should answer over this issue of prison congestion. Why do our judges visit prisons at the beginning of each criminal session? What do they go there to do? They don’t seem to be in a position to do anything about this congestion.

What would happen if the Commissioner of Prisons sent back to court remanded or convicted persons, saying he has no space to take them in and it is not his duty to build prisons?

In all this drama, the political authorities are quiet.
We are behaving as if there is no solution to the issue of prison congestion. We are behaving as if the number of people who are sent to prison is beyond our control in the same way as we have no control over rain. We have control over the numbers of people we should send to prison.

And the matter starts with the police and the courts. There are many people remanded in our prisons today who can be out on bail without much risk to public order and security. People are sent to prison for no good reasons. A good example of this is the case of Lusaka lawyer Nsuka Sambo who the Supreme Court unjustifiably and in the most questionable of circumstances imprisoned. They knew very well that our prisons were congested.

They also knew very well that there was alternative punishment Sambo could have been given. Sambo was not a common criminal whom if let free would cause more harm to society. Not even the argument of deterrent could be reasonably advanced to justify Sambo’s imprisonment. No alternative punishment was considered in this case.

Congestion or no congestion, Sambo was sent to prison to increase, and not reduce, the congestion. Out of anger, out of pride, out of unbridled ego, Sambo was vindictively sent to prison to increase the congestion. With this behaviour, can our courts really claim to be concerned about prison congestion? We so often see bench warrants being issued for the arrest and detention of people on very flimsy grounds.

People who are concerned about prison congestion cannot behave this way, cannot detain people in this manner.
Our politicians in parliament have done very little, if not nothing, to address the problem of prison congestion. As lawmakers, they have not come up with any legislation to help reduce prison congestion.

And the Law Association of Zambia has also not done much to address the issue of prison congestion. There is surely something the human rights committee of the Law Association of Zambia can do on this score.

Let’s not ignore or turn a blind eye to the plight of our brothers and sisters who are today languishing under the most inhumane conditions in our prisons.

Our bond of brotherhood and sisterhood in the one body of Christ and our solidarity as a people should, in love, compel us to anger for the justice and righteousness of the Lord in our prisons. In this context, we recall the words of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, for He has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord” (Luke 4:18 – 19).

This appeal for fair treatment of our prisoners should be heard in all our institutions of the state and civil society. Those of us who have to pronounce judgment of persons and situations should view the exercise of their authority as a service of the truth for the common good as well as for the wellbeing of the individual. In particular, we exhort them to respect the rights of those accused of having committed offences. We appeal to those in authority to be more open to the protection of the human dignity of the people we imprison.

Prisoners should be treated with respect befitting human beings. Even the worst criminals do not lose their inborn rights. And we support those who believe a judgment to be a proper authority to determine the humanity of detention conditions. It is our collective duty to express our concern for the welfare of prisoners and other detainees.

Labels: FRED M'MEMBE, PRISONS

posted by MrK @ 6:04 PM