Inmate sues Govt over diarrhea outbreak at Chikurubi Maximum Prison

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An inmate at Chikurubi Maximum Prison has sued the government over a diarrhea outbreak at the prison following his unfortunate experiences with the waterborne disease.

iHarare has established from a local publication New Zimbabwe, that Taura Dodzo slapped Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) with a lawsuit over a diarrhea outbreak at the Harare correctional facility.

Dodzo revealed in a High Court action that Chikurubi is now a health hazard as it is facing major outbreaks of diarrhea, TB, and hepatitis B.

In his application now before the High Court, Dodzo said that due to the continued unavailability of clean water, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

“The shortage of water has resulted in an outbreak of serious diseases including diarrhoea, hepatitis B and Tuberculosis. Regrettably, prison officials do not separate sick prisoners from the healthy ones,” Dodzo said

Dodzo is being represented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, cited ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission as respondents.

In his application, Dodzo further claimed that the first respondent Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu doesn’t feed inmates the laid out diet which they ought to be feed.

“The first respondent (Chinobvu) certainly does not feed us at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison with the diet that is laid out in relevant regulations and Instruments linked to the Prisons Act,”
“That failure is, therefore, a violation of the law, an infringement that must now be rectified urgently given the heightened risk to health and welfare of prisoners that has emerged from the current water crisis,” Dodzo added in his application.

Dodzo wants an order compelling the authorities to ensure that temporary measures are put in place to improve access to water which includes the use of mobile water bowsers and for ill prisoners to be quarantined.

In addition to that, he also wants the prison clinic to be fully stocked with all essential medicines and installed with requisite technology.

Chikurubi prison is currently overpopulated with 2 000 inmates instead of 1 360, as a result, prisoners are also at risk of contracting Covid-19 as they share crowded cells, with no social distancing being observed.