Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican Prime Minister Benvinda Levi has called on the National Prison Service (SERNAP) to always resort to treatment that defends the inmates’ rights.
According to Levi – who was speaking on Thursday, in Maputo, at a Symposium on Alternative Sentences and Prospects for Reducing Overcrowding in Prisons, which is taking place in the context of the week commemorating the 50th anniversary of SERNAP – criminal justice cannot continue to be a machine of exclusion.
“It is our collective duty to ensure that the bodies of justice are an instrument of reconciliation, rehabilitation, and hope. The inmate is not a number, nor a problem. He is a citizen, a human being, and as such, he must be treated with dignity”, she said.
The Prime Minister added that there is a need to humanize criminal justice, institutional efficiency, and shared accountability among the various stakeholders, “and this event should not be limited to conceptual reflections. It also must comprise an instrument containing proposed recommendations for reforms in the prison system.”
The reforms, she said, must also be linked to measurable actions and shared responsibilities aimed at the humanization and efficiency of the country’s prison system.
Levi recommended that SERNAP undertake training and technical courses for prisons staff, in order to improve oversight mechanisms for alternative sentences.
“The effective implementation of these and other actions, in a concerted manner will contribute to our country gradually having less overcrowded prisons, thus ensuring a humanized and efficient prison system”, she claimed.
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