GARIKAI MAFIRAKUREVA

MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO-Just like any other run-down Government department that is not adequately resourced the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has joined the bandwagon and is now asking inmates to buy their prison garbs.
Several attempts to get comments from the ZPCS Provincial spokesperson Stanslus Sanike were fruitless as his mobile went unanswered.
Impeccable sources told The Mirror that the situation is most rampant at satellite prisons like Jerera, Bikita, Mwenezi, Chivi, and Gutu.
One source that spoke to The Mirror on condition of anonymity said his son was convicted of housebreaking and theft and was sent to a satellite jail at Jerera.
“I was then told that I should buy prison garb for my son because they didn’t have any at that moment,” said the source.
However, the ZPCS national spokesperson Chief Superintendent Meya Khanyezi could neither deny nor confirm but went on to say that ZPSC is in the middle of crafting a bill that would give a prisoner the right to demand what he or she wants whilst serving a prison term.
“As ZPCS we are awaiting the new bill that will give prisoners rights which include demanding a different meal. If one can afford he or she eats whatever they want.
“We have enough prison garbs for new inmates, but there is nothing bad if someone tells his relatives that they can buy him a second one.
“We are in a new era, so don’t think prisons still have those archaic laws and ways of doing things. So, if someone is not comfortable with one prison garb his relatives can buy him a second one,” said Khanyenzi.