Rehabilitation and social reintegration for released prisoners including ensuring continuity of health care services

Organized by Zambia, and UNODC HIV/AIDS Section and UNODC Justice Section

Alejandro Matta, Moderator

Zambia supports post release programs and reintegration of people who have been imprisoned

Alita Mbahwe, Zambian delegation

Highlighting programs in Zambian custodial facilities. Government of Qatar thank you for financial support. Zambian correctional services – reception and discharge of inmates across Zambia, Correctional services director – doctor fostering community re-entry and reintegration. Focus on rehab and addressing physical and development needs – primary physical health care needs. Providing services for inmates is necessary. Zambia correctional service/UNODC working together. Facility enhances objective to prepare offenders for reintegration. UNODC in Zambia has partnered with NGO to establish new services on reintegration. Managing offenders needs to be managed in community. Crucial for the implementation of the Doha global declaration.

HE Mr Almansouri Ambassador to Qatar:

Doha declaration – ensuring continuity of health care services for prisoners – delighted to support Zambia. Qatar is committed to enhance services for inmate care. Qatar and UNODC put the Doha Dec commitments at forefront. Advance the SDGs. Highlight the importance of other activities to take global program as a model. Thank Government of Zambia for hosting this side event.

Marco Teixeira, UNODC

For us, it’s key to continue this partnership. We hope to produce some food for thought. Start of this program was the Doha Declaration. Put into action after that – aims to make positive and sustainable impacts on crime prevention. Rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in society. UNODC will continue to support the member states. We work closely with Zambia Corrective Services. Technical assistance is based in two instruments – Mandela Rules and Tokyo rules. 2 new facilities last year. 2 centres last year. Making efforts in post release support to prisoners. SDG 16 is part of our framework. Upscaling social reintegration processes. Mandela quote. Dignity and respect for people while they are incarcerated. Provided opportunities for support. 3000 male and female inmates support for non-communicable diseases. Second layer of post-release support. Compliments support inside prison settings. More details during presentation. Partnership with Zambia Is very important. Key for achievements of UN global agenda. SDG17 on partnerships helps us align. 3 elements of successful example. Special thanks to my team. Not state actors are key for successful. Action without action is only passing time.

Chisela Chileshe, Zambian Correctional Services

Zambia is in southern part of Africa and surrounded by 8 countries. Congo is main neighbour. Showing a video on correctional services in Zambia. Poultry project. Members of the community are employed under this project. Skills workshop enhances the inmates – most offenders return to the community after. Changed name from prison services to correctional services. Various agricultural skills are taught to inmates. One former inmate is now employed and running service after being discharged. Transition to corrections extends its responsibilities.

Thank the government of Qatar for the action-oriented declaration. Gives skills and knowledge to our inmates. We gave a mandate to all our facilities. 20% of population must be engaged for reintegration. We have travelled miles – endpoint of criminal justice – depends on what programs we give for those in our facilities. Standard of programs worldwide is not very high. Journey begins with mental and physical disability. Reintegration starts with the mind. Declaration and funding through UNODC are to empower the already empowered mind. Then we have the other partners who come in picture to ensure those with skills are given tools to do their trade – whether it’s carpentry, agriculture, study etc. Given the opportunity to continue. Zambia has 4 correctional facilities. We realise that being punitive is not the solution. No matter how hard to treat a prisoner, it doesn’t always have the solutions. Our name means that a lot of things have changed. Mandatory for any members of government to do this. Have been working with UNODC for more than 10 years. Money that they get is put into good use.

Workshop was commissioned in 2019 and will be continued. Rehab programs also integrated. Agricultural project funded and run by inmates. Going to employ inmates to run facility. Going to ask public to come and open project. One of the main reasons people may reoffend is because their brains are not relaxing – we allow them to relax, and play sports and take part in traditional dances. We are changing as a nation. At least you leave prison in Zambia with new skills or academic certificate. Inmates meet their victims – another program we are doing – to upskill offenders. We are committed to engaging with partners such as the UNODC.

Derrick Malumo, Zambian Corrective Services

Inmates need reintegration. After they get the skills, what happens? They need reintegration and support in their communities. We collaborate with Zambian Corrective Services. We advocate with a loud voice for former inmates reintegrating within society. Government is in the forefront to stigmatise. Our government showed willingness to support community members. Need to promote reintegration. Open door policy that allows civil society to go in. They’ve reformed – a person should not be punished twice. We are beneficiaries of Doha Declaration. We raster inmates before they are released. National registration/reintegration centre. The population is very expectant. Ensure this population do not go back into prison, we need to reduce recidivism. Zambian Corrective Services recognises that we are not doing our job if people are returning to prison.

This is what we’re doing as an organisation. Mandate – to rehabilitate, to reform, to correct. Our role is reintegration. We receive a lot of support from UNODC. We are a prisoner reintegration and empowerment organisation. We provide support for people with tuberculosis. There are a lot of cooperation benefits – access to correctional facilities –Mwembeshi multi-skills centre

Please come to visit us in Zambia. 500 inmates at registration centre. Aim is to reach all the facilities. Other services provided: livelihood service, legal service

Ehab Salah, UNODC Prisons and HIV

Very important to talk about health among prisoners. Always a pleasure to work with you all. International standard for people in prison. We need to acknowledge SDGs in this work. Prisoners to achieve highest attainable health. Health services in prison should be same as those provided in community. We need to reduce recidivism. We face a major problem with countries we’re working with. Not only low-income countries experiencing these challenges. Prisoners upon release don’t necessarily prioritise their own health. Development of standard operation procedures. Train people from community healthcare facilities. Zambia is a good example of this. Different industries can talk to each other and ensure this. Role of civil society is important here. Ensuring medical records of prisoners should be kept confidential. Stigma is present among healthcare providers. Need to develop tools to reduce stigma in heath services. Monitoring and evaluation – we need good tools to evaluate. The situation in Zambia helped us conduct study of HIV in Zambia. HIV rates are very high. Overcrowding in Zambian prisons is a problem. Need to look at bigger picture of criminal justice programs. Financial capacities are needed