Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIAN Correctional Service commissioner general Raphael Tuhafeni Hamunyela visited the Walvis Bay Correctional Facilities Community Advisory Committee (CAC) at the town on Tuesday.
The meeting aimed at engaging with the facility’s Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and the Walvis Bay Correctional Facility in particular, in order to strengthen their bond.
During the discussions, the committee members made several suggestions, including utilising local tenders to supply offender’s rations; construction areas inspections should be done timeously in order to ensure that the right materials are used for construction purposes; and servicing of more land of the facilities area in order to create a larger area for the facilities garden. They also complained that the offenders’ food provision tenders were not delivering offenders rations on time.
Hamunyela encouraged the committee to work closely with the officer in charge, in order to observe the day to day operations of the facility and to identify areas of concern.
He applauded them for volunteering to help with issues at the facility.
“I appreciate the CAC members for their displayed interest in contributing to the Walvis Bay Correctional Facilities’ day-to-day operations that support the effective administration of the facility in particular, as well as the Namibian Correctional Service in general,” he said.
Walvis Bay businessman and member of the committee, Ivo De Gouveia, volunteered to personally complete the building of the offenders workshop at the facility at his own cost, after the group was taken on a tour of the facility.
The CAC serves through voluntary participation according to the Namibian Correctional Services mandate, which is to provide safe, secure and human custody of offenders. They also help to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into the community and contribute to the protection of society by interacting with staff of the Namibian Correctional Service, the public and offenders. The facility currently harbours 237 inmates.
