CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS GET UNZA TRAINING
Zambia Correctional Service -ZCS- in collaboration with the University of Zambia -UNZA- has trained 60 Correctional officers from across the country with cognitive behavioral therapy skills.
Speaking yesterday during the closing of the two weeks Cognitive Behavioral therapy workshop at UNZA in Lusaka, ZCS Commissioner General FREDERICK CHILUKUTU said the workshop was aimed at equipping officers with skills necessary in the handling of inmates w
the psychological measures during the correctional process.
He noted that with the ZCS inmates population currently standing at over 22,500 against the holding capacity of 10,681 more skilled manpower is required to correct and rehabilitate inmates.
Mr CHILUKUTU said that the training will help to alleviate claims by society of the country’s penal facilities as mere warehouses that store offenders and segregate them from the rest of society without offering them the rehabilitation and support needed fo
successfully returning to society.
Meanwhile UNZA Vice Chancellor, Professor LUKE MUMBA noted that there is a need to reorient the correctional service by shifting from the punitive measures to correctional measures in order to help the inmate reform before they go back to society.
Speaking on his behalf by the Dean for School of Humanities and Social Sciences, JACOB MALUNGU, Prof, MUMBA indicated that the training will help officers change their mindset from the punitive way of handling the inmates to a correctional way.
He said the aim of the service is to change the behavior of the offenders to acceptable normal human beings in society.
