AS A way of reducing congestion in correctional facilities, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has proposed that custodial sentences for certain offences be converted into corporal punishment.
The Zambia Daily Mail reports that Senga Hill Constituency Member of Parliament Kapembwa Simbao said the Ministry of Home Affairs to consider coming up with a bill to turn some sentences into strokes instead of locking up offenders in correctional facilities.
Simbao made the suggestion yesterday after Ministry of Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Chileshe Mulenga informed the committee that there are about 22,000 inmates in correctional facilities countrywide.
This is against the available correctional facilities which can only accommodate 8,000 inmates.
Dr Mulenga led a delegation of officers from different departments in the ministry of Home Affairs to appear before PAC.
