Do prisoners hate freedom?
PARDONED convict Polite Gonese of Masvingo was re-arrested for theft before he got home from jail after being set free when President Mugabe granted a clemency order to more than 2 000 prisoners recently.
His crime was that he stole two cell phones at Mazorodze Clinic that he said he wanted to sell so as to raise his bus fare to go to his rural home since he was released without any cash on his person.
Another pardoned prisoner Lungile Mazo who was prior to being pardoned was serving a two-year prison sentence broke into a shop in Entumbane suburb in Bulawayo that sells cell phones, cameras and cell phone accessories allegedly to raise money to sustain himself since he had nowhere to start his life from after being released.
These are some of the stories that made the week’s Press headlines after the release of the more than 2 000 prisoners back into their communities on Presidential Amnesty. The release of the prisoners by the President freed the country’s prisons of a lot of space and eased expenses on the prisons but it becomes worrying and defeats the purpose when just after the release some are quickly re-arrested and taken back to jail.
While some celebrated their freedom and expressed their gratitude to the compassionate President Mugabe, some resented the clemency order and wished they were left confined to the high walls away from the daily troubles and toils of daily life synonymous with any free person.
To them prison life provided an escape route to the difficulties of a self-programmed life to a life where everything else is programmed by others and where food shelter and clothing is freely provided. And to continue escaping their fears of reality, they have to make sure they go back to the confines of the walls and high security fences where life is lived almost free of charge.
“I had no money to sustain myself. I haven’t found a job as yet since I had just come out of prison, I am sorry,” said Mazo when he appeared before the magistrate Mr Temba Chimiso.
Mr Chimiso had no kind words for Mazo telling him that he was very ungrateful for being pardoned as he had proven that he does not deserve a second chance in society. While some face such economic problems as failing to get a proper launch pad to start their life free from crime, some face a more different and complex social and psychological predicament of failing to be accepted back into the society. They therefore become social misfits and resultantly feel the only place where they can be accepted without people being judgmental is back in the high prison walls.
This has however, raised questions on weather prisons and correctional services facilities in the country are doing their job in preparing the convicts for a life devoid of criminal activities after prison and whether the prisoners are taught that the prison is not a place that one can yearn or aspire to be.
Interestingly, however, it emerged that some people love prison life for its economic benefits with reports that some criminals opt for a custodial sentence where they are locked up than community service. Other females also deliberately go to prison after getting pregnant so that they get the necessary support in terms of basic “preparation” while others such as vagabonds will be trying to escape from the vagaries of the harsh economic situation and weather conditions.
Social scientist Mr Morgen Mutsau believes the country’s prison service is not doing enough to capacitate the prisoners and to prepare them fully well for a crime free life outside jail although that does not justify habitual criminal activities. As a result of the lack of economic support mechanisms, he said, most convicts were quick to revert to their old criminal life as the only option available to them in trying to find somewhere to start from.
He added that without the necessary support systems, the life of most criminals remains a cycle that was difficult to break from.
“Punishment is one important goal of the penal system. Equally important is to provide people a realistic opportunity to assume the responsibility of returning to general society as better parents, neighbours and citizens. Education in prison helps to prevent people from leaving the institution more isolated, embittered and likely to return to prison.
“Education as a corrective measure must be responsive to the market demands and to the needs of individual prisoners as a way of helping people to escape the cycles of crime and incarceration. But more importantly we need capacity support systems to be put in place where socio-economic support has to be considered before one is released,” said Mr Mutsau.
He added that the cases that were reported might not be the only ones as some might not have been caught.
He said in countries where resources permit they make prisoners do work and get paid for it so that they make savings which they would use in the event that they were released while some take the education route to transform the lives of the convicts.
Although the education route is not new to Zimbabwe’s prison facilities Mr Mutsau emphasised the need for an education that was responsive to the demands of the job market to avoid creating redundancy that might lead to a criminal mind creeping in.
He gave the example of the Bard Prison Initiative in New York where inmates have the chance to earn a Bard College degree through a non-vocational liberal arts curriculum, including literature, foreign language, philosophy, history and the social sciences, mathematics, science, and the arts at satellite campuses established in six New York state prisons.
Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed in a telephone interview that a number of pardoned convicts have been re-arrested. Although she could not give the figures saying it was difficult to know that the person was a beneficiary of the Presidential Clemency Order, she said as police they were on high alert for such kind of habitual jailbirds.
“Yes there are some habitual and very unrepentant criminals who have since been rearrested after benefiting from the Presidential Amnesty. These are very ungrateful people who see prison as their home, people with a mental code of criminality, who breathe and live crime. As police however, we will remain on high alert for these and any other criminals. We do not have the figures as of how many have been rearrested after being set free on Presidential amnesty because such information is usually not privy to us. It usually comes out in court and through the media. But we have such people who are hardcore criminals and whose lives revolve around crime and jail. We are also mindful that there are criminals who were released from South African prisons and some are in the country so we are on high alert,” she said.
She added that it was surprising that some of those who were recently pardoned were back in jail instead of being grateful to the President and live a crime free life. Snr Assnt Comm Charamba said sometimes it had nothing to do with the community but the individual who would not have changed saying some people go on to commit crimes after they have been granted bail.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services public relations officer Superintendent Priscilla Mthembo said in her response to questions sent by Sunday News that there were a number of factors that contribute to reoffending chief among them the rejection of the ex-offender by the society.
She said broken down family fibre was another contributory factor as some ex offenders lose contact with their families especially after serving longer terms of imprisonment. They invariably find that a lot of things changed whilst they were incarcerated thus navigating into their new environment becomes difficult. The situation, she added, could be worsened by rejection by families, friends and community.
“Though failure to accept released offenders contributes to reoffending, inborn criminal tendencies and mere greediness can also contribute to recidivism. Ex offenders adapt differently to life situations some revert to criminal tendencies due to failure to cope with the complexities of the outside world. Poverty and psychological imbalances may also drive a person to reoffend.
“We believe that the term of imprisonment is punishment enough thus upon incarceration the inmate undergoes pre-counselling to ensure that he accepts the wrong he did to society. He then embarks on a chosen rehabilitation area which in our context refers to treatment and training of the offender to correct the deviant mindset. However, rehabilitation can only be successful through the involvement of key stakeholders like ZPCS, family, religious groups, Non Governmental Organisations, amongst others,” said Spt Mthembo.
She added that ZPCS as a key stakeholder in the justice delivery system has the obligation to provide safe and secure incarceration to ensure that the offender stays in prison until the expiration of the sentence imposed by the courts or was lawfully released through Presidential pardons or other lawfully means.
“We are also guided by the constitution of Zimbabwe, regional and international protocols on human rights and the rights of offenders. Thus we are obligated to ensure offenders in our custody are safe, secure and humanely incarcerated,” noted Spt Mthembo.