Zimbabwean prison officers undergo training on promoting harm reduction

CC Harvey Barrison

News

Zimbabwean prison officers undergo training on promoting harm reduction

1 November 2018

The Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (ZCLDN) has this year held two capacity building workshops on promoting harm reduction in the country’s prisons. The two workshops held in August and October were attended by senior Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services officers and middle management officers.

The capacity building workshop was attended by senior officers from the Harare Metro province based at the Harare Central, Chikurubi Maximum, Women and Farm prisons. ZCLDN director, Wilson Box said the workshops were meant to enhance knowledge of drug and substance use among prison officers and change attitudes and values towards drug use and reduce risk behavior associated with substance use among key populations including drug users. “Prisoners are key populations and they are vulnerable to be infected by diseases. Therefore, there is need for humane treatment of prisoners including those who use drugs and we need to introduce the concept of harm reduction and drug policy reform,” Box said. The prison officers went through the process of implementing and disseminating drug use and harm reduction strategies to inmates