By MILDRED KATONGO –

.President Lungu

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu is expected to attend the International Day of  Prayer and Action for Inmates to be held on July 15 in Kitwe.
Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe said the event would bring together the Church and other stakeholders to pray for inmates, especially those being released back into society, as part of the process of reintegrating them back into the community.
Mr Nundwe said this when the Zambia Correctional Service Commissioner, corrections and extension services, Tobius Mwanza paid a courtesy call on him.
“Inmates are a key component to development… and we want to see a pedigree of inmates, that when they move out of there, they are accepted by the community. President Lungu will officiate at this important event,” Mr Nundwe said.
Mr Nundwe commended President Lungu for transforming the Prisons Service into a Correctional Service, saying this would with the reformation of inmates while in the facilities.
Mr Mwanza said one of the challenges that service had to deal with was that ex-inmates were not being readily accepted once back into the community.
He said this often led some inmates falling back into the same wayward ways that saw them back behind bars.
He said it was the duty of communities to learn to accept them and avoid stigmatising them so they could feel they had been accepted back into society.
“The challenge we have is that when these inmates are integrated into the community, they are not accepted by members of the community,” Mr Mwanza said. “This forces them to commit the same crimes and get back into prison.”
Mr Mwanza said the role of the event was to bring together stakeholders like the Church to help spread the good news and sensitise members of the community on welcoming the inmates.