THE government has on Tuesday released 1600 prisoners to decongest the prisons in an effort of combating the spread of COVID-19.
The Presidential amnesty was conducted in line with Clemency Order 1 of 2020 published in the government gazzete.
Implementation of this order saw prisoners serving for non violent crimes being released.
Interestingly, only 53 female inmates were released, implying that the majority of females in the country’s prisons do not qualify for pardon.
Zimbabwe Prison Services authorities had proposed the release of 5000 inmates but did not get a greenlight from government.
The population of prisoners had ballooned to over 20 000.
Those eligible for immediate release, were those prisoners who have served at least half their effective sentence, juvenile prisoners who have served a third and inmates sentenced to 36 months or less.
It also includes those who have served half; and those over 70 years of age.
