PRISCCA alarmed by state of Isoka State Prison

Human Rights advocates say revelations that inmates at Isoka State Prison in Muchinga Prison are forced to sleep in shifts should be treated as a matter of urgency.

Prisons Care and Counseling Association (PRISCCA) Executive Director Godfrey Malembeka has told QFM News that records indicate that about 5, 000 people in prisons are remandees out of the 18, 600 people in prisons.

He says the backlog of cases in Zambians courts is way too much and is responsible for the congestion in prisons.

Mr. Malembeka says it is very clear now that the country has inadequate accommodation for inmates.

He says government should now embark on an aggressive program of building more prisons in the country to address the issue of congestion.

And Hope for Human Rights Executive Director, Smart Chanda says it is inhuman to subject inmates to such kind of an arrangement.

Mr. Chanda says there is need for government to expand prisons as well as build new ones so as to improve the living conditions of inmates.