Inmates’ population hits 20,000

KETRA KALUNGA writes
@SunZambian
THE inmates and correctional officers ratio is still high in the country despite the recruitment of more officers in the Zambia Correctional Service (ZCS)
ZCS Head of Public relations, Doreen Ngoma, said that there were about 3700 uniformed officers against close to 20,000 inmates.
Ms Ngoma said in an interview the inmate to officer ratio currently stands at one to seven against the recommend one officer to four inmates.
She was hopeful that the ratio would reduce to the recommended one to four with the Government’s resolve to recruit more officers.
“The ratio is still high although it has reduced a bit. It is one officer to seven inmates currently and there are about 3700 uniformed officers with close to 20,000 inmates,” she said.
Correctional officers, she said, played a major role in the transformation of the correctional services in the country.
The latest recruitment of about 941 correctional officers was in July last year at Nyango Training Centre in Kaoma District.