BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) is on a massive drive to empower inmates through various initiatives by enhancing their correctional facilities and transforming lives.
One of those initiatives is the Commissary System (Calling App and Online Shopping Platform) which allows inmates to send and receive money, buy and call their loved ones whilst in prison.
In an interview at their stand at the ongoing Zimbabwe Agricultural Show, where the application was also being introduced to members of the public, ZPCS Spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Meya Khanyezi said the application had brought so much convenience for inmates.
“An inmate is given a gadget and he or she does the transactions with the assistance of officers, but let me point out that they don’t take the phone into the cells, no, but they just use it for these facilities.
“So relatives can also send money and inmates can actually call their relatives wherever they are because it has a facility which allows them to purchase airtime and call, as long as there is money in their account.
“So they use their prison number to do everything concerning this application.
“There is an administrator who knows let’s say that at Harare Central Prison there is an inmate with such and such a number who has made a purchase or they are making a call so they link them,” said Ass-Comm Khanyezi.
Further with empowering inmates, Ass-Comm revealed that they had also entered into some partnerships with some companies such as Willdale Bricks whereby inmates go and work and they are paid.
“Inmates can actually go to Willdale, stay there for a month or so working and they come back to prison.
“We are saying this person is serving a term but is allowed to go and work a month or so and they come back to prison.
“So in our books we know that there is a certain inmate who is currently working at Willdale, then we can also let’s say McDonald Bricks and Boarder Timbers, we will know that we have our inmates who are working there.
“The reason why we are doing this is because rehabilitation is about changing the mind, so we make sure that an inmate spends more of his or her time out of prison, than just behind bars because when they come back, they will be thinking about what was happening the whole day.
“So you will see that with time, prison will just be a structure because they will be thinking of what transpired let’s say at work and even plan for the next day so that they earn more.
“They will think more of their work and when they wake up, they are quite geared for the day,” she added.
Ass-Comm Khanyezi added that when inmates engage in sporting disciplines, it also gives them a platform to think more about those activities and even plan on success on the field of play.
“So this is what we are doing; we are enhancing our correctional facilities and transforming lives.
“We also have community engagements, where we are going into churches, we are also going into schools.
“We are trying to bridge the gap between the offender and the offended and in this case I’m talking about the community because in most cases, the community doesn’t like offenders.
“But we are trying by all means to bring these people together so that come day of release, this inmate is able to go back and join the society successfully without being pointed fingers.
“So this has helped to bring some form of understanding, like for the community to say yes this person wronged the society but after serving their time and going through rehabilitation, they have since changed and they can sit side by side, that’s what we are pushing for.
“This is so, such that come the day of release, an inmate is able to sit side by side with the offended without any skirmishes like what we used to witness long back,” added Ass-Comm Khanyezi.
