Africa-Press – Angola. The Secretary of State for the Interior, José Paulino Cunha da Silva, Monday in the city of Huambo reaffirmed the Angolan Government’s commitment to improving the accommodation and living conditions of prisoners in the country.
José Paulino Cunha da Silva reaffirmed this commitment when he was speaking at the main celebration of the 44th anniversary of the Penitentiary Service in the country, marked on 20 March.
The act was the culmination of the days alluding to the date, opened on the 3rd of this month under the motto “Penitentiary Service, 44 solid years in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of inmates, consolidating penitentiary production”, and was attended by the governor of the province of Huambo, Lotti Nolika, and several members of the management and staff of the Penitentiary Service, in particular, and of the Ministry of the Interior, in general.
Addressing those present, he made it known that the body, which belongs to the Ministry of the Interior, controls a total of over 24,000 inmates of both sexes, between detainees and convicts, distributed in 40 existing jails in the country.
According to these data, he continued, there is a growth rate of the penal population, which has increased, on the other hand, the challenges of the Angolan Government in the search for the best solutions for satisfactory assistance.
“The Government is concerned with improving the living conditions of this prison population, taking into account the need to respect their dignity and guarantee their full rehabilitation and reintegration into society”, he stressed.
For this purpose, he informed that works were underway to complete and equip four new penitentiary establishments, to be built in an equal number of provinces in the country.
These are, according to the Secretary of State, the jails of Boma (Moxico), Cacongo (Cabinda), Cuquema (Bié) and Cassosso (Cuanza Sul), which with their entry into operation will be possible, in compliance with the permanent rules of the Penitentiary Service and the minimum rules of the United Nations for the treatment of prisoners and Mandela, the decongestion of the current prison establishments and the improvement of the quality of life of the prisoners.
He also pointed out as a measure the continuous training of the staff and improvement of their working conditions, for adequate action in the treatment of the penal population.
Still during his speech, the Secretary of State for the Interior highlighted the role of the Penitentiary Service, over its 44 years of existence, in fulfilling its mission of executing measures depriving freedom enacted by the legally competent bodies and applied to individuals in conflicts with the law.
Such measures, he said, have guaranteed social peace and the defense of the sovereignty of the State, through policies of humanization, re-education and social reintegration, also aiming to prevent the commission of other crimes.
When addressing the motto of the festivities for this year, he said it constitutes a guideline so that agricultural and livestock production is a fact at the country’s penitentiary establishments, with a view to improving the diet of the prison population.
In his view, there are records of satisfactory indicators of agricultural production achieved in some penitentiary establishments, with emphasis on Cambiote, Huambo province.
In turn, the governor of Huambo province predicted the promotion of technical and professional training to improve the results of the agricultural production program underway in the country’s prisons, for an effective process of re-socialization of detainees.
Prisons Exhibit Agricultural Potential
At the same time as the central event commemorating the event, the Secretary of State for the Interior opened the sixth edition of the national agricultural fair, which lasted for three days.
15 provincial directorates of the Penitentiary Service participate in the same, out of the 18 existing in the country, with the exception of Cabinda and the Lundas Norte and Sul, which are presenting to the population of Huambo the results of their production activities in the field and the agricultural potential of their provinces , in addition to five private companies operating in various branches of economic activity.
Among the products on display are cereals (corn, beans, soy), tubers and various vegetables, as well as small animals and their derivatives, with emphasis on eggs.
In the end, the penitentiary establishment that presents the best products during the fair will be elected.
The Penitentiary Service of Angola was founded on March 20, 1979, following a protocol between the Ministry of Justice and the then Secretariat for Internal Order, yesterday the Ministry of the Interior.
The same aimed at transferring the Prison Services to the Interior branch, constituting, from that date, the Day of this body, which aims to work on the rehabilitation and integration of inmates.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
