13 Aug 2017

The proposed Act seeking to allow for the exchange of prisoners by countries would go a long way in addressing overcrowding in local prisons.

Presenting the Interstate Transfer f Prisoners Bill in parliament on Wednesday (Aug 9), the Minister for Defence, Justice and Security Mr Shaw Kgathi, said the bill, which sought to create a legal framework that would provide for the exchange of prisoners, would in addition result in the reduction of the costs of caring for prisoners.

“In addition, indirect financial benefits may result from a reduction in the social cost of imprisonment, including community development,” he said.

He informed Parliament that the objective of the bill was to facilitate the transfer of prisoners between Botswana and those countries with which agreements for the transfer of prisoners would be entered into.

He explained that it would allow prisoners to serve the remainder of their terms of imprisonment in their respective countries.

Mr Kgathi said the proposed Act would among other specify prisoner eligibility for transfer in or out of Botswana, as well as lay out the conditions under which prisoners may be transferred into or out of the country.

Also contained in the Act, he indicated, would be a provision disallowing the transfer of prisoners sentenced to death and a provision specifying that prisoners transferred under the Act shall not be entitled to apply for review or appeal conviction or sentence.

When debating the bill, Nkange MP and also Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs Mr Edwin Batshu said the bill was overdue.

Mr Batshu said Batswana incarcerated in foreign prisons stood to benefit as presently families could not visit them due to them being imprisoned far from home.

Further, he pointed out Botswana accorded HIV positive foreign inmates Anti-Retroviral treatment, a benefit that he said Batswana held in prisons in other countries did not enjoy.

Also, Mr Batshu indicated that countries’ rehabilitation programmes differed, noting that Botswana was among countries with good rehabilitation programmes.

He said it was thus necessary that Batswana inmates in other countries be brought home to benefit the country’s sound rehabilitation programmes.

Kanye South MP Mr Abram Kesupile observed that while helping each other carry burdens was a good thing, it was crucial that the minister state the true reasons that had motivated the need for the transfer of prisoners.

He said it was insufficient for the minister to have stated that the country was over-burdened with having to care for foreign inmates without having stated the amount government was spending in doing so. Mr Kesupile also that in stating that locals prisons were overcrowded, the minister ought to also have availed statistics to prove that.

The debate on the bill continues. ENDS