Connect with us

Africa

Mnangagwa pardons 3,000 to decongest prisons

Published

on

Mnangagwa pardons 3,000 to decongest prisons

President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe on Thursday pardoned 3,000 prisoners as part of government efforts to decongest prisons and improve living conditions of inmates.

Those who benefited from the amnesty, announced by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) on Wednesday, include all female prisoners except those sentenced to death or facing life sentences, all juveniles and all people jailed for less than 36 months.

Disabled inmates, the terminally ill and those above 60 years who had served one third of their sentences were also pardoned.

The pardon does not apply to habitual criminals previously pardoned but jailed again and those convicted of murder, treason, rape and armed robbery.

Zimbabwe’s prisons are battling overcrowding as they are currently holding 20,000 inmates against a carrying capacity of 17,000.

“As the ZPCS we applaud the move taken by His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) in exercising his prerogative of mercy to some prisoners behind bats,’’ ZPCS deputy commissioner general Alford Mashango Dube said.

This is Mnangagwa’s first amnesty for prisoners since he assumed power last November.

The last pardon that set free thousands of prisoners was done by former president Robert Mugabe in 2016 as prisons were struggling to feed the inmates.

Nan

NEWSVERGE, published by The Verge Communications is an online community of international news portal and social advocates dedicated to bringing you commentaries, features, news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective. A unique organization, founded in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, comprising of ordinary people with an overriding commitment to seeking the truth and publishing it without fear or favour. The Verge Communications is fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a corporate organization.

Comments
NIGERIA DECIDES

NIGERIA DECIDES

Shell Digital Plan RESPONSIVE600x750
Shell Digital Plan RESPONSIVE600x750
GTB
JoinOurWhatsAppChannel