New efforts aimed at decongesting prisons in the country are expected to save the government over Rwf14.6 billion annually, according to information from the Ministry of Justice.

Currently, Rwanda has over 86,000 people in the 13 correctional facilities across the country, and it is estimated that the government spends averagely Rwf1.4 million on each person annually.

On Tuesday, the Ministry launched two policies: one for Alternative Dispute Resolution, and the other for Criminal Justice.

The Criminal Justice Policy is a course of action aimed at contributing to building a coherent, connected, innovative and problem-solving criminal justice system that guarantees the protection of the public, as well as ensuring efficient mitigation of crime.

Among other things, the policy proposes imprisonment "as the last resort,” noting that though prison will always "be necessary” for some offenders, "it is destructive of people’s lives and of their families.”

It will inform the formulation laws and other necessary facilities that make room for the use of non-custodial penalties like community service, encourage more release on bail for suspects, as well as release on parole for inmates who have demonstrated positive change.

Speaking to media, the Minister of Justice, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja did not put a timeline on when all the necessary laws and tools will be in place to start implementing the policy, but noted that the work has started in this regard, and it will not take very long.

"For example, we have already held some discussions for reviewing our criminal law. We even invited people to give their ideas and the first drafts are available,” he noted.

"We are carrying on in this regard, and we believe that soon, you will be seeing some of the results in terms of reviewed laws,” he added.

After its adoption, a quick review and amendment of a series of laws has started, aligning them to the policy principles, guidelines to facilitate recommended policy actions implementation.

The main policy actions will consider two things: introducing a new criminal justice and sentencing act, which includes the policy actions on criminal procedures, sentencing and review of conditions for release of convicts.

It will also look at amending legislation for the 2018 law determining offences and penalties in general, as well as the 2019 criminal procedure law, so as to incorporate the policy actions on criminal procedure, sentencing and review of conditions for release of convicts.

When it starts to be implemented, the policy is expected to cause a gradual reduction in prison population, so that in the first three fiscal years of its implementation, the inmate population will reduce by 5,000 prisoners, and then, during the two years that follow, it will reduce by 10,000 people.

According to the 2022 Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative report on pre-trial detention, Rwanda has the highest prison population rate (number of prisoners per 100,000 of national population) at 580.

Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS) Commissioner General, Juvenal Marizamunda, praised the new policy, saying it will not only decongest correctional facilities, but will also put in place measures to ensure that inmates leave with better skills and attitudes to become better citizens.

Among other things, the policy recommends an increase in RCS staff to reduce the prisoner-guard ratio to 15:1, as one of the ways to render better services.