Gahonzire cautions prison wardens

The new Commissioner General of Prisons, Mary Gahonzire, has called prison supervisors to be result-oriented and have proper performance indicators if the department is to move forward. Commissioner General of the National Prisons Service made her call when meeting with senior prison wardens and managers during the Prisons Council session yesterday. She revealed that all prisons in the country will soon have a new look in terms of management and the welfare of prisoners as part of the new strategic plan for prisons. “Prisons should focus more on increasing production to a surplus level and supply to the outside community, prison security should also be boosted while the welfare and the health of prisoners is keenly followed up.” “In terms of management, we will try to iron out any form of corruption, prove the management systems through finance management and encourage partnership with other institutions,” she added. Gahonzire also pointed out that she intends to improve the infrastructures of prisons in the country and as well as theiInformation technology facilities. In terms of health, Gisenyi prison was recently hit by N1H1 virus and 46 cases were registered, according to officials, the numbers are going down the prison has managed to isolate those infected and contain the spread of the virus. According to the law managing prisons, prisoners are supposed to produce 30 percent of their expenditures while the government avails the remaining 70 percent. Under this arrangement, Gahonzire said that she intends to make prisons produce more than enough for their consumption. Currently, the prisons around the country are said to be overcrowded by 130% and according to Gahonzire, in scaling down this figures more prison facilities are going to be built and ensure that there is a small number of prisoners in the facilities. The National Prison Service is a new entity under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its establishment came into force some time last month. However, the law that establishes it was passed in parliament and published in September 2006. Ends