Prison hunger: Boiled vegetables a ‘daily bread’ for inmates

By Clayton Masekesa

MUTARE – The Zimbabwe Government has been urged to increase the budget allocation to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZCPS) and partner with private partners and stakeholders to make collective efforts to address serious starvation in prisons due to food shortages amid an economic collapse in the country.

A media tour of the Mutare Remand Prison on Wednesday revealed that there is a serious food and nutritional crisis, as the prison is struggling to provide nutritious and adequate food to inmates due to recurrent financial challenges.

The media tour was part of a dialogue programme called Kushanda Pamwe/ Working Together organised by Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), supported by the European Union (EU).

The Kushanda Pamwe/ Working Together programme is aimed at strengthening and capacitating organisations that provide social support to vulnerable people in contact and conflict with the national justice delivery system in Zimbabwe.

The programme is also geared to advocate for the necessary changes in the prisons’ legislation to ensure that it meets international human rights standards.

Zimbabwe’s long condemned prisons have often been described as death zones because of the poor infrastructure and services in them, as disease and hunger have been the order of the day.

The Zimbabwe Morning Post saw the reality on the ground as the prisoners were being fed with boiled vegetables, commonly known as Covo in vernacular without cooking oil.

They are fed once everyday.

Inmates interviewed said they were enduring days of boiled vegetables and sadza.

“It has been long. We are being fed with boiled vegetables without cooking oil everyday. We are appealing to well wishers oil there to help us in improving our diet,” said an inmate.

“We are very hungry here. We are being fed little food and the food is poorly prepared. We feed on boiled vegetables everyday,” said another.

The inmates urged their relatives to bring food.

The ZPCS Assistant Commissioner Didymas Chimvura admitted that of then poor diet and owed it to lack of resources.

“It is not a secret and it is well known of that (poor diet). What is now needed is to make collective efforts to address the situation. It is all about lack of resources. Let’s work together and partners must now come and help in averting these problems,” said Chimvura.

Moses Chananuka the Manicaland Coordinator for Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) said balanced nutrition for inmates has always been a challenge.

“Our organisation has been working with the Mutare Remand Prison on various programmes including inmates who are HIV positive,” he said.

“Our poultry project at Mutare Farm prison has assisted much in supplementing the nutritional needs mainly for those in the established support groups. The poultry project was established to supplement nutritional needs for the inmates in support groups,” Chananuka said.

“Nutrition is the best especially for PLHIV in prison at times they don’t have cooking oil, sugar or soap imagine taking porridge or vegetables without sugar and oil,” he said.

Chananuka said the poultry project sustainability has been affected by change of staff that had know-how to run and manage it leading to its collapse.

RAU Researcher Tinotenda Chishiri said the main challenges faced by prisoners are a result of the inadequate financial resources allocated to the prisons.

“The lack of resources manifests itself in the scarcity of infrastructural development. Challenges faced by ZPCS include overcrowding, lack of balanced diet for inmates, lack of separation of juveniles from adults and the presence of children incarcerated with their mothers,” she said.

Chishiri said Zimbabwe was bound by international instruments that include the united nations standard minimum rules on the treatment of prisoners (also known as the Mandela rules) and the bangkok rules.

“Thus, Zimbabwe has an obligation to ensure that prisoners are treated in a manner that respects their human dignity. The right to human dignity entails absolute prohibition of torture, provision of adequate material conditions including sufficient food, water and access to healthcare,” said Chishiri.

George Matende from VSO said the right to dignity for prisoners entails that citizens are to be treated humanely even when they are in detention.

“We want to recognise the good work being done by various organisations in partnership with the ZPCS in terms of capacity building. They have the mandate of uplifting and upholding the justice delivery system,” said Matende.

According to ZPCS requires around $28 million per year to feed around 21 000 inmates in the country’s 46 prisons as the standard diet is $3 per prisoner although allocations from the government fall far below the required level. Zim Morning Post