The solution lies in eradicating the causes of crime. Reforms should be aimed at reducing corruption, poverty and unemployment levels in the country. Improving the capacity of the police to deal with crime would go a long way in reducing crime rather than relying on an inefficient criminal justice system that metes out heavy penalties on individuals whose convictions are at times unfairly obtained. Reforming the out-dated prison system that was designed during the colonial era, over three decades ago, would go a long way in improving our penal system. The argument always advanced that prisoners are a drain on limited national resources is not so valid.
Prisons can be productive and can generate their own resources.
They could even contribute to national development through agricultural and industrial ventures. But the current prison regime in the country is designed in such a way that most prisons are located in city centres and prisoners spend most of their time locked up. Most have no workshops. For those that have, the workshops are run down and are in total disrepair. The Zambian penal system also needs to be reformed so as to allow convicts to serve community sentences that would require them to perform a prescribed amount of work within the community.