THE cold and unforgiving cells of Lusaka Remand Correctional Facility have been filled with the sound of regret more piercing than any clang of iron bars, it’s the bitter sobs of a young man from Kanyama Compound, grappling with an unbearable truth.
Mwape Chileshe, a name now synonymous with regret, sat behind those bars, not just serving a nine-month sentence, but reliving the choices that had shattered his world and led to the death of his father.
Chileshe, a young inmate, wept as he sat behind prison bars recalling how he needed to reconcile with his family following his bad acts as a ‘junkie.’
According to the Zambia Correctional Service, the young boy had fallen into the company of a notorious gang famously known as Junkies, despite repeated warnings from his parents.
Chileshe on a fateful day was found in trouble when a music system was stolen from a community shop, he was caught, arrested and sentenced to nine months imprisonment.
But when words of his arrest reached his father, who was already struggling with chronic blood pressure, it triggered a fatal episode which led to his death.
Chileshe’s father died shortly after the heartbreak before any reconciliation could be made.
While behind bars, a single moment of reconciliation echoed louder in Chileshe’s ears and requested for his mother’s reconciliation.
During a one-on-one session with a restorative justice officer, he broke down.
“I killed my father,” he wept. “Not with my hands, but with my choices.”
It was then when he asked to see his mother, not to justify his actions, but to seek forgiveness from the one person he had left.
The mother was informed, she agreed without any delays and made her way to the facility.
Chileshe stood face to face with his mother, not as a free man, but as a son seeking forgiveness for a chain of pain his actions had unleashed.
He stood trembling before her, humbled himself and said: “Mama, I am sorry, I know I took everything from you, he said in a cracked voice. Please let me start again.”
Mortuary silence characterised the moment for a while leading a huge heartfelt embrace between the mother and son.
There were no long speeches, just tears, and the kind of forgiveness that only a mother can give.
Mwape had fallen into the company of a notorious gang famously known as Junkies, despite repeated warnings from his mother.
“I told him,” she recalled with tears in her eyes.
“I begged him to leave those boys alone, but he wouldn’t listen. Sometimes, prison doesn’t just hold a man, it holds a second chance,” the mother was quoted by ZCS.
As the reconciliation was going on, a reconciliation officer, Wardress Chileshe Bwalya said Chileshe will complete his sentence, but more than that, he has begun a longer journey: rebuilding what remains of the family he nearly lost forever.
“This is the core of correctional rehabilitation. Not just serving time, but coming face to face with the lives we have broken, and finding the courage to seek restoration.”
“Sometimes, prison doesn’t just hold a man, it holds a second chance.”
By Lucy Phiri
Kalemba July 13, 2025
