. Zimba

By MILDRED KATONGO –
THE Zambia Prisons Service has reaffirmed commitment to providing correctional services to inmates in the country’s prisons.
Senior assistant commissioner of prisons John Zimba said the mandate for the chaplains to provide spiritual guidance to inmates played a crucial role once they were re-integrated into society after serving their jail terms.
Reverend Zimba said the prison authorities were key in shaping the inmates’ lives in and outside the prison confines.
Rev Zimba said this in Luanshya yesterday during the hosting of a chaplains’ retreat at Kafankumba Training Centre. The occasion was held under the theme ‘An encounter with Jesus Christ’.
He said the retreat was aimed at teaching chaplains how best to correct inmates in prisons so that they could become better and productive citizens.
He said among the services that the prisons provided was the department of the chaplaincy which was there to advocate spiritual programmes to inmates.
He said the national retreat by all chaplains from various prisons was necessitated after the outcry by members of the public on pardoning inmates who were re-integrated into society but were not reformed.
“The Zambia Prisons Service has a mandate to provide correctional service to inmates. Among those services, the chaplaincy unit also advocates spiritual programmes to officers and inmates,” he said.
He said it was through the spiritual programmes provided by chaplains that many inmates had changed their behaviour, were baptised and accepted Christ as their personal saviour.