The Zambian Prison System: Challenges and Reforms

Nov 14, 2025 0

The Zambian Correctional Service (ZCS), formerly known as the Zambia Prisons Service, is a government agency responsible for prisons and correctional centers in Zambia. The ZCS oversees the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into society.

Map of Zambia, highlighting its location in Southern Africa.

Historical Context

Officially established on Independence Day, its origins trace back to the colonial era, rooted in the formation of law enforcement agencies during the British South Africa Company's governance. In 2016, the service underwent a name change to its current form. The early foundations of the Northern Rhodesia Prisons Service can be traced back to the establishment of the Northern Rhodesia Police Force in 1899, which led to the creation of law enforcement entities such as the Barotse Native Police and the North-Eastern Rhodesia Constabulary. Prisons became a necessity in the early 1900s, with records from October 13, 1904, revealing the need for an Order-In-Council to address inadequate prison facilities.

Before the dedicated Prisons Service, the police force managed prisons, and in 1912, prison administration was reorganized under the office of the Attorney General. In 1923, the proposal for an independent Prisons Service emerged, resulting in the return of prison management to the police force in 1927. The title 'Commissioner of Prisons' was introduced in 1931, and in 1938, Mr. T.C. The independent Prisons Service was officially established in 1942, marking the birth of the Northern Rhodesia Prisons Service.

The Northern Rhodesia Prisons Service evolved over time, with R.L. Worsely appointed as the first independent Commissioner of Prisons in 1942. The formation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953 led to the creation of federal prisons until 1963, after which the institution reverted to its original name. Zambia gained independence on 24 October 1964, and the headquarters remained in Broken Hill (now Kabwe). O.V. Garrat served as Commissioner during this period.

Modern Developments

In modern times, the Zambia Correctional Service underwent administrative changes. In 2015, the Zambia Correctional Service (ZCS) upgraded its Command Structure to the rank of Commissioner General. The current Commissioner General is Mr. Chilukutu, who was sworn in by President Hakainde Hichilema in September 2021. The Deputy Commissioner General is Mr. Kuyomba Bwalya, who was also sworn in by the President during the same ceremony.

The Constitution Amendment Act no. 2 of 2016 prompted the change in name from Zambia Prisons Service to Zambia Correctional Service, signifying a shift from punishment to rehabilitation. The head office of the Service briefly relocated to Lusaka in 2016 before returning to Kabwe in January 2019, following a government directive.

The Zambia Correctional Service is governed by Chapter 97 of the Laws of Zambia, which was under review in 2016 following the Service's name change. The Service is mandated to manage all prisons and correctional centers across the country, and its mission is to provide humane custody and quality correctional services to promote public safety and contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country. The Service has 87 correctional facilities across the country, including conventional correctional facilities, Maximum Security Prisons, and Open Air correctional facilities.

Legal Framework and Mandate

The Zambia Correctional Service is governed by chapter 97 of the laws of Zambia (Prisons Act), which was under review in 2016 following the Service’s name change from Zambia Prisons Service to Zambia Correctional Service on 5 January 2016. According to article 193 of the Republican Constitution, the Service is mandated to manage all prisons and correctional centres across the country.

The Service is headed by the Commissioner General and is subdivided into two divisions, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner General. The Zambia Correctional Service, falling under the Ministry of Home Affairs, is mandated to manage all prisons and correctional centers nationwide. The functions of the Zambia Correctional Service are outlined in the Zambia Correctional Service Act, 2021. These include the establishment, management, and control of prisons and correctional centers, the correction and reformation of inmates, and the establishment of the National Parole Board, among others.

Read also: Human Rights in Mauritius Prisons

Challenges within Zambian Prisons

Zambian prisons face numerous challenges that impact the health and human rights of inmates. These include:

Overcrowding: Zambian prisons are over 300 percent of capacity, with inmates sleeping four to a mattress in unventilated cells.
Inadequate Food and Nutrition: Both prisoners and prison officials reported that the food provided by the government to prisoners is insufficient and nutritionally inadequate.
Lack of Basic Necessities: The Zambia Prisons Service does not provide inmates with basic necessities including soap, toothpaste, or sanitary pads.
Poor Sanitation and Hygiene: Female prisoners reported that sanitation and hygiene are poor, and water frequently unclean.
Limited Healthcare Access: In April 2010 only 14 health personnel served 16,666 prisoners, and of Zambia's 86 prisons, only 15 had any health clinic or sick bay. Access to care is controlled by medically unqualified and untrained prison officers.

According to prisoners and prison officers, a lack of adequate prison staff for the transfer of sick prisoners, inadequate vehicles for transportation and fuel, and security fears keep inmates from accessing medical care outside of prisons, in some cases for weeks after they fall ill.

Overcrowded conditions in Zambian prisons contribute to the spread of disease and poor health.

Healthcare Deficiencies for Female Inmates

Despite special protection under international and regional law, incarcerated women's health needs are not being adequately met in Zambian prisons. There is an urgent need for women's healthcare services to be expanded, and for general prison health campaigns, including HIV and tuberculosis testing and treatment, to ensure the inclusion of female inmates.

International standards dictate that for women in detention, there shall be "special accommodation for all necessary prenatal and postnatal care and treatment". Zambia Prisons Service policy requires that "Women inmates, including those who are HIV infected, should receive...[p]rovision of antenatal care services as offered to all women in the general population". But although prenatal care is widely available in the Zambian general population, incarcerated pregnant women interviewed described inadequate, and in some cases non-existent, prenatal care.

Inadequate nutrition is a serious problem for pregnant women and women with children in prison. Prisoners across facilities reported that meals consisted of approximately 400 to 450 grams of maize meal per day, in addition to small quantities of beans and/or kapenta. Normal-weight pregnant women require between 1,900 and 2,500 calories per day during the last six months of pregnancy for healthy weight gain. Despite international standards calling for special provisions for children incarcerated with their parents and Zambian law, which states that, "the infant child [up to age four years] of a woman prisoner may be received into the prison with its mother and may be supplied with clothing and necessaries at public expense", the Prisons Service allocates no food to children who live with their mothers in prison facilities.

HIV and Tuberculosis

HIV and TB are major health threats for the entire prison population. HIV testing and treatment are offered at six prisons nationwide with the assistance of an NGO, and as of March 2011, prison-based TB screening and treatment were offered only at three prisons nationwide as part of a pilot program. Female prisoners face potential breaches of consent with HIV testing. The National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Policy requires that women considering having a child be encouraged to seek counseling and testing and ensures that every pregnant woman has access to HIV/STI screening and treatment. It does not require mandatory prenatal testing; Zambia Prisons Service policy prohibits compulsory HIV testing.

Female inmates, particularly women previously held in police custody, reported physical and sexual abuse indicative of a widespread and systematic pattern of brutality. Prisoners repeatedly reported that they were beaten in police custody in order to try to coerce a confession, often leading to serious injuries.

Prison Health Committees (PrHCs)

From 2013, building on several years of partnership focused on prison tuberculosis control, ZCS partnered with the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) to strengthen prison health systems and services. One component of this work included an 18 month consultation process regarding the conceptualisation, formalisation and establishment of male and female Prison Health Committees (PrHCs). Key features of the committees included the co-membership of both officers and inmates; a remit for health promotion, service support and representation of inmate concerns as captured in a published terms of reference disseminated to all officers-in-charge.

The process of selecting and training PrHC members and operationalising the committees was the culmination of an extended, two year consultation process involving ZCS, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), MOH and a range of NGOs. Although contentious among some senior Ministry and Corrections stakeholders, a key driver of the formation of the PrHCs, was recognition by other senior government and non-government officials of the need to improve (within the constraints of a security setting) inmate representation in relation to health needs, and related to this, the accountability of facility-based staff for service planning, access and quality.

Data pointed to a compelling series of short- and mid-term outcomes, with positive impact on access to, and provision of, health services across most facilities. Inmates (members and non-members) reported being empowered via a combination of improved health literacy and committee members’ newly-given authority to seek official redress for complaints and concerns. Inmates and officers described committees as improving inmate-officer relations by providing a forum for information exchange and shared decision making. Contributing factors included more consistent inmate-officer communications through committee meetings, which in turn enhanced trust and co-production of solutions to health problems.

Our study shows that PrHCs do have potential to facilitate improved social accountability in both state and societal domains and at their intersection, for an extremely vulnerable population.

Recent HIV Prevention Efforts

In Sub-Saharan Africa, HIV infection disproportionately affects people detained within the criminal justice system. Data was collected between October 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, from 16 Zambian criminal justice facilities, involving a total of 12,367 people in the study. Of all those who tested HIV negative and were screened for PrEP, 67 percent considered high risk were eligible to initiate. All PrEP participants participated voluntarily, and care was taken to avoid undue coercion or incentives.

“Due to Ciheb’s collaborative efforts with our partners to control HIV infection in Zambia, we have been able to help bring the HIV prevention and treatment rates to 98% across the country, and now we are focusing on targeting this previously and traditionally ignored population of people in prisons,” said Manhattan Charurat, PhD, MHS, Professor of Medicine, Director of Ciheb, and Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention at UMSOM’s Institute of Human Virology.

“In many developing countries, both HIV and homosexuality are highly stigmatized, making HIV interventions in prisons that much harder to enact," said Robert Gallo, MD, The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, Co-Founder and Director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Co-Founder of the Global Virus Network (GVN) and Chair of the GVN’s Scientific Leadership Board. "There is an urgent need for health equity for all members of society. With almost 400,000 people globally incarcerated who are living with HIV, including 18,000 in the United States alone, controlling the spread of HIV in the prison system translates to healthier communities," said Dean Mark Gladwin, MD, who is also Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "What the team has accomplished in this study will hopefully accelerate further changes to the prison healthcare systems in Zambia and around the globe.

Diagram of HIV, highlighting the importance of prevention and treatment in vulnerable populations.

The Way Forward

Zambia needs to act now to improve conditions in prisons and address the health needs of prisoners. Addressing prisoner health is also critical for effectively addressing community health, since prisoners and staff return to towns and villages.

There is an urgent need for women's healthcare services to be expanded, and for general prison health campaigns, including HIV and tuberculosis testing and treatment, to ensure the inclusion of female inmates.