ZIMBABWE’s prisons are currently home to a total of 20 997 inmates, with 23,5% of them on remand, latest data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has shown.
According to ZimStat, of the 20 347 male prisoners, 15 673 (77,0%) are sentenced and 4 674 (23,0%) are unsentenced.
Among the 650 female prisoners, 382 (58,8%) are sentenced and 268 (41,2%) are unsentenced, ZimStat said.
“The total prison population is Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) unlock figures, which is the total number of prisoners who slept in prisons on the night before the reporting date. As such, the total prison population is the unlock figures taken on June 28, 2024,” the report released on Wednesday read.
“The total prison population at the end of the second quarter of 2024 was 20 997, (20 347 males and 650 females). Males thus constituted 96,9% of the prison population while women were 3,1%.
“The national imprisonment rate was 135 prisoners per 100 000 people. The imprisonment rate for males and females was 270 per 100 000 and 9 per 100 000, respectively.”
ZimStat said the prison population decreased from 24 068 at the end of the first quarter of 2024 to 20 997 at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
ZimStat said during the same period, the male prison population decreased from 23 401 to 20 347 and the female population decreased from 667 to 650.
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“Out of the 20 997 persons who were in prison, 16 055 (76,5%) were sentenced and 4 942 (23,5%) were unsentenced. The proportion of unsentenced male and female prisoners was 23,0% and 41,2%, respectively,” the report read.
“At the end of the second quarter of 2024, the sentenced prisoner population had decreased from 17 050 that was observed at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 to 18 736. The unsentenced prisoner population increased from 5 967 to 5 332.”
In the second quarter of 2024, a total of 18 009 prisoners were discharged from Zimbabwean prisons. Of these, 16 919 (93,9%) were male and 1 090 (6,1%) were female.
The reasons for discharge included amnesty/parole, community service, community service with time to pay, fine paid, sentence expired and time to pay restitution or fine among other reasons.
Last year, the United States in its human rights report described Zimbabwe’s prison conditions as harsh and life threatening with prisoners living in squalid conditions, adding that some of them were either malnourished or seriously ill.
