Curbing problem of overcrowding in Zambian prisons

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
CONGESTION in prisons is not a new phenomenon. It dates way back in the post-colonial era.
Overcrowding is perhaps the single most pressing concern facing Zambian prisons.
Zambia is among other African nations such as Cameroon, Burundi, Kenya, and Rwanda comprise the majority of the world’s most overcrowded prisons.
Like many of the challenges facing Zambian prisons today, overcrowding has its roots in the country’s colonial past because the current prison facilities are those left by the colonial masters.
Zambian prisons have been at or above capacity nearly since their inception.
Given the many challenges facing postcolonial countries Zambia inclusive, it is little wonder that prisons have been left off the endless development to-do lists.
Prison is obviously not a place where anyone would wish to find themselves one day, especially a Zambian prison, as Human Rights Commission Chairperson Mudford Mwandenga puts it.
With conditions such as overcrowding, torture and inadequate feeding, the Human Rights Commission says prisoners are deprived of their rights.
Mr Mwandenga says “Persons in detention do not cease to be human beings. A prison sentence deprives a prisoner of their right to liberty. It should not deprive them of other rights.”
He adds, “A basic principle is that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with respect for the inherent dignity of the person. But this is not the case in Zambian prisons.”
Recently, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) conducted a routine inspection of the detention facilities in Lusaka and Kabwe.
Several findings emerged, among them overcrowding, torture and lack of food.
The commission says Zambian prisons do not comply with internationally accepted human rights standards, thus violating the rights of inmates, both convicted and awaiting trial.
Currently, the inmate population in Zambia stands at 21,370 against the holding capacity of 8,250 representing a countrywide overcrowding of about 159 percent.
“Inspections conducted by the Commission in March 2017 in Kabwe found that Kabwe Maximum Correctional Facility with an official capacity of 400 had 2,050 inmates representing over 500 percent congestion. In December 2016, the commission found that Lusaka Central Correctional Facility whose maximum holding capacity is 400 had 1,320 inmates which represented congestion of over 300 percent.
The situation was not any different at Kamwala Remand Correctional Facility which had a total number of 510 inmates against an official capacity of 74 inmates indicating over 300 percent congestion,” Mr Mwandenga says.
According to the Human Rights Commission, the lack of compliance with internationally accepted standards is tantamount to giving double punishment to inmates, especially those still awaiting trial.
It is notable that the country’s population has increased exponentially compared to the time when most the prison facilities where opened during the colonial era or the post-colonial era.
A tale from an ex-convict Goerge Chikwela, 47 of Lusaka’s Mtendere township reinforces the concerns from the Human Rights Commission.
Mr Chikwela knows prison life like the palm of his hand. This is so because of the time he was incarcerated.
He gives scanty details about what led to his incarceration. “I was involved in a robbery and after several trials, I was sentenced to jail. I just do not want to talk about what happened because I am now a father and a changed person,” Mr Chikwela says.
He spent close to five years in various prison facilities following the nature of the case he was facing. He describes prison life as tough.
Memories of his arrest are still fresh in his mind. He was arrested at the age of 35 and was released from prison when he was 40.
His wife and family regarded his life of crimes as a profession because they (family) did not know what kind of business deals he was involved in.
“The aftermath of prison life still haunts me. I would never wish anyone to experience it. Prisons in Zambia are not fit for human habitation. I say so because the environment is not conducive. The sleeping, feeding and just the general treatment is like the person is already condemned to death, no freedom at all,” Mr Chikwela says.
He says, “The only good side of prison is that it gives some people a chance to reform forever, but others do not reform, they get worse because they are subjected to this inhuman treatment,” Mr Chikwela says.
Horror stories about his prison life are visible from his facial expression and all he says is, “Prison life is tough, I cannot imagine being there for a life sentence.”
Asked to describe prison life, Mr Chikwela says life in jail can be described best by the way prisoners live.
He says prisoners suffer malnutrition, overcrowding, grossly inadequate medical care, and the risk of rape or torture.
He added, “Some prisoners are detained for years in such conditions even before they are brought to trial.”
But what has happened to Hebrews 13 verse 3, “Remember those in prison as if you were there with them.”
From Mr Chikwela’s experience, one can tell that truly, it is hard to be in prison, much worse to be remembered. It is a kind of life or experience one finds in the highly congested prisons in Zambia.
But in view of the many international, regional and national minimum human rights standards relating to the treatment of prisoners, Government under the Zambia Correctional Service has embarked on a national wide programme to upgrade of the correctional facilities countrywide.
Zambia Correctional Service head of public relations Margaret Nawa says the Zambia Correctional Service is on track to meet needs of offenders following the continued upgrade and rehabilitation of correctional facilities countrywide in a bid to observe humane conditions for the inmates.
“We have constructed new facilities in Mbala, Kalabo, Mwembeshi, Monze and Luwingu. We are aware of the population in the prisons countrywide and that is why the service has embarked on the various measures to ensure that we decongest the prisons,” Ms Nawa says.
Although the rising prison population in Zambia is of great concern, it is certainly not just a Zambian problem, but an international phenomenon.
Overcrowding of prisons negates the rehabilitation of offenders, undermines human dignity in correctional facilities and renders the safety and security of offenders and the community vulnerable. The problem of overcrowding facilitates the easy spread of communicable diseases among inmates. Imprisonment as a sanction remains a reality.
Providing alternatives to imprisonment, for example, community based-sanctions, does however ensure that a significant number of offenders can be dealt with in a more balanced manner.
Alternative sanctions to incarceration can be more successful, less costly to the state, have fewer negative implications and will lighten the load for the criminal justice system, hence reducing overcrowding.
PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MAY 28, 2017.

Community Health Workers: Forgotten No More

By Dr Joachim Osur

They crisscross the villages, urban settlements, hills, valleys and planes, sometimes on foot, sometimes on bicycles.

They wear T-shirts with health messages. They carry a bag containing tablets, syrups and health information materials. They mobilize communities to go for vaccination. They distribute mosquito nets. They supply contraceptives. They accompany women to ante-natal clinics and delivery rooms and ensure that they deliver safely.

They go by various names such as Community Health Workers (CHWs), Community Health Volunteers, madaktari wa kijiji (village "doctors"), and so on.
For a long time they have never been a priority agenda for the public health sector and they are rarely recognized or paid for the work they do. This is, however, bound to change. Key players in health including WHO, Amref Health Africa and IntraHealth International have teamed up to launch a global-wide campaign to have CHWs formally employed and given benefits as any other civil servants. As a result, there were mentions and discussions on CHWs in several sessions of the 70th World Health Assembly [.

The incoming WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Minister of Health in Ethiopia, promised to strengthen primary health care which includes revamping the CHW agenda. Ethiopia has led the way in showing how best CHWs can be used by the health system.

If CHWs were to do their work as expected, there would be tremendous improvement in prevention of common diseases such as diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia which are still the main killers of children. They would also help a lot in preventing deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes. HIV prevention and care would reach millions through the work of their hands. In fact, it is now acknowledged internationally that Ebola would not have had the toll it did in West Africa if the community health workers were available to do their work.

As it is now, however, these important workers are not available to everyone who needs their services and as such the many benefits they bring to healthcare are not being realized. But note that the lack of community health workers is not caused by a deficit of those who want to be trained to do the work. In fact, many people have been trained to be CHWs.

The problem is attrition of those who have been recruited and trained. Attrition rates for CHWs are highest compared to any other cadre of health workers. The rate is as high as 77% in some communities – meaning that out of every 10 people recruited and trained, only two remain to do the work. 

Although there may be other minor reasons for attrition of CHWs, the greatest reason is that they are not paid for the work they do. The issue of remuneration of CHWs remains largely unresolved among key players. On the one extreme there are stakeholders who believe that CHWs should be purely volunteers and that their motivation should come from personal satisfaction and that they should be happy for making their communities better places to live.

They believe that by volunteering, CHWs pay allegiance to no other institution but their communities and that this makes them achieve better results for the community. It is extrapolated that in such communities individuals will in return appreciate CHWs including providing them material support.

On the other extreme, there are stakeholders who believe that CHWs play a key role in health and that the functions must be structured, supervised, monitored and remunerated by Ministries of Health with a package commensurate to their efforts. They believe that CHWs should be formally employed and the jobs should come with benefits. In addition, they believe that CHWs must be provided with the means to do their work including supplies and travel logistics.

In the middle ground are organisations and governments that believe in a mixture of volunteerism and self-sustaining financing for CHWs. In this model, the CHW may sell family planning and other commodities to raise funds for their work. Further, CHW groups can be supported to form cooperatives and have access to loans to start income generating activities to support their work. Reimbursement of CHWs for expenses incurred in the course of doing their work is also encouraged and where possible stipends are recommended.

Despite the convictions of these various players, scientific studies show that the better model is the one for hiring and paying CHWs a salary like any other civil servant. This scientific fact is not in dispute. Studies show that volunteer CHWs have twice the attrition rates as those who receive some form of remuneration.

Remuneration as a key factor in attrition of CHWs is well demonstrated when unmarried people are recruited and trained as volunteer CHWs. As soon as they marry, such CHWs abandon their duties and look for paid employment to support their families. Where volunteer CHWs choose to continue to play their roles, they do it as part-time engagement, giving more time to paid employment. Many times their families disapprove of these extra voluntary duties and within no time they drop out. In instances where CHWs are supported to generate their own resources from enterprises, many fail for lack of entrepreneurial skills. Those who succeed may become more interested in the business than in providing voluntary services.


In reality, attrition of CHWs means a lack of continuity in the relationships established among a CHW, community, and health system. This destabilizes progress in achieving health outcomes. Further, considerable investments are made in identifying, screening, selecting, and training the CHW and costs for this rise with high attrition rates. When CHWs leave, the opportunity is lost to build on their experiences and make community work more effective.

It is these evidence-based realities that have made organizations such as Amref Health Africa, WHO and IntraHealth International embark on a campaign to integrate and remunerate CHWs like the other health workers. Governments will have to develop CHW strategies that take this approach into account. Where necessary, laws will need to be changed to accommodate CHW civil servants. It is also hoped that the donor community, other NGOs and the private sector will support this agenda since it could be the shortcut to achieving global health security and universal health coverage.

Dr Joachim Osur is the Director of Regional Offices and Field Offices, Amref Health Africa

SADC Journalists explore role of media in ending child marriage in the region

DOREEN NAWA, Gaborone
ENDING child marriage is indeed a mandatory task if the southern African region and Africa as a whole is to make progress in global efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It is not that simple. It requires unambiguous political commitment, visionary leadership from all stakeholders, and support for grassroots advocacy to address many of the cultural practices and behaviours that place young women and girls at increased multiple health risks, including HIV.
And in an effort to accelerate advocacy, address community perceptions of child marriage and a lack of awareness about its associated health risks, African Union Commission and other partners held a workshop for journalists in Gaborone, Botswana to increase advocacy to ending child marriage through engagement of the media in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region.
The participants of this workshop included representatives from the SADC Parliamentary Forum, journalists from Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as representatives from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Plan International.
Clearly, if the high rates of child marriage in SADC and the rest of the continent are to decrease, legislation alone will not be enough – a wider effort is needed to change community attitudes towards the practice.
“The role that the media can play in helping to raise awareness of child marriage cannot be overemphasised. Media plays a huge role in shaping opinions and, if properly presented, good journalism can help change entire communities’ perceptions towards child marriage,” says head of social welfare and vulnerable groups at the African Union Commission (AUC) under the Social Affairs department Johan Strijdom during the opening of the meeting on Tuesday last week.
Child marriage is illegal in marriageSADC countries and this is so because of the numerous treaties and protocols that the member countries have signed though the practice still occurs in large numbers.
And sadly, the practice is on the increase.
The persistent neglect of the plight of child brides in the SADC region is a direct reflection of the failure of the region’s collective responsibility to protect the human rights of vulnerable young people.
The silenced voices of the many millions of young women and girls forced into marriage before their eighteenth birthday signify complacency and discrimination, hence the coming on board of the media to increase awareness and advocacy on issues of child marriage.
During the workshop, it was noted with concern that most countries in the region have laws on the minimum age of marriage, but they are largely ineffective, not enforced or operate alongside customary and religious laws.
A twenty-three-year-old Zambian child marriage survivor, Chipasha Iliamupu said traditions and cultural norms which rule the social lives of many practising communities in the region and beyond should not be used as an excuse to neglect the duty to protect, respect and fulfil the rights of young women.
Ms Chipasha feels that journalists alone cannot stir up a positive change towards ending child marriages but politicians and other government officials in respective member states in the region can work out modalities to ensure implementation and monitoring of activities aimed at ending child marriages are on track.
“There is need for effective accountability on the progress made in domesticating their national, regional and international agreements on ending child marriage which currently seems to be a low priority issue. Member states should lead the review, harmonising, simplifying laws and repeal old, irrelevant laws,” she said.
But all this can be done if the media takes up an accountability role and gives priority to news coverage on child marriages and other social ills affecting women and girls in the SADC region.
During the three-day meeting, it was observed that child marriage coverage is seen a low priority issue for the media because of the cagy attitudes of government officials, partners and various organisation with statistics that show the extent of the problem.
And Communications and Advocacy Specialist at SADC PF Moses Magadza said progress is, however, being made, but by working in partnership with various partners and journalists can contribute to credible awareness-raising capable of reaching large numbers of people.
“The coverage of sensitive issues like child marriage and early pregnancy need qualitative and quantitative data and this can only be possible if the media works closely with various stakeholders. Trainings like this one are important but there is need to target the editors too,” Mr Magadza said.
Child marriage violates a girl’s rights to health, education and opportunity. It exposes girls to violence throughout their lives, and traps them in a cycle of poverty.
Child marriage directly hinders achievement of at least six of the SDGs. Child brides face huge challenges as a result of being married as children.
Isolated, often with their freedom curtailed, girls frequently feel disempowered and are deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education and safety.
If member states are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and uphold the human rights of women and girls, they must act now to end child marriage. And that has to come from a clear political commitment and appropriate policies.
At the workshop, participants shared that the problem of child marriages is particularly acute in areas outside of the capital city, where journalists lack support and proper training to address sensitive issues.
Participants appreciated that helping to improve the credibility of reporting on child marriages is vital and various partners should not assume, however, that journalists know of the issues that surround early marriage.
Journalists at the workshop shared that they were willing to engage with non-governmental organisations on sensitive issues like child marriage, but expressed frustration that a mutually supportive relationship had not been established.
By bringing together journalists and various partners to discuss these issues face-to-face, the workshop demonstrated the importance of building a constructive, rather than critical relationship with the media.
Engaging with the media and ensuring accurate coverage of child marriage is an approach relevant to SADC region.
Journalists can become allies, and by building a constructive relationship with them, various stakeholders will gain the support of people who shape mass opinion on a daily basis.
As the workshop demonstrated, an effective relationship with the media is invaluable.
PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON APRIL 2, 2017.