An attempt by convicted assailant Shadreck Dube to escape from the jaws of prison life in Kwekwe last week has literally opened a can of worms amid revelations that Kwekwe Prison does not have own truck as it uses a single truck hired one from CMED.
ZPCS Chief Correctional Officer Solomon Mutamba
Dube, who had two counts of aggravated assault and unlawful into premises treated as one, had just been sentenced to 36 months imprisonment when he tried to escape from a prison-bound open truck last week. The 12 months of the sentence were suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit the same offence within that period.
Following the botched escape, Zwnews has established that prison officers at the correctional facility are currently living under the most appalling conditions as some officers are also living in makeshift tin houses amid acute shortages of accomodation within the residential camp.
“What happened during that failed escape from a truck by the convicted Shadreck Dube is just a tip of the iceberg to the dire situation that Kwekwe prison finds itself in”, an insider from the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) told this publication.
“Under normal circumstances, we should be using the Grey Maria truck which is secure for the transportation of prisoners but we only have an open truck secured under the Public Debt Management Act”, said the source.
“You can imagine transporting the dangerous MaShurugwi in a truck which is not secure. The situation we are operating under is quite dangerous”, a prison officer told Zwnews.
When contacted for comment, ZPCS Chief Correctional Officer Solomon Mutamba said he would not comment on the matter, saying he was out of office.
Zwnews
