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A humane attitude to prisoners is a moral duty
2005-07-06 08:52:28
By Deogratias Mushi
It is an undeniable fact that some of us have had relatives or friends incarcerated.
Normally when such moments come up, there is uncertainty, which faces the entire family. Life no longer remains the same.
When somebody is in prison, his/her well being is in one way or another jeopardized, since there is no personal schedule to follow, not indeed take precautions about things like food, disease, water, etc.
It is in such places that adults eat food not of their preference, sleep in squalid places, and also perform duties given by warders. Briefly, one moves from freedom to slavery, from wishing to eat to being thrown whatever food is prepared.
Had there been an alternative, I am pretty sure that most people would have opted to surrender whatever they have just to avoid to go to prison, given that human life is lived in rigid and arduous conditions.
But there is no way out. Culprits found guilty by a court of law can be sent to prison for some time, first as necessary pain, and then to give them time to reform, wish to avoid prison once they come out of it. Short jail periods like one month may not make an impact, to many offenders.
Despite the gravity of their offences, it is expected, especially for relatives, that one continues to be a part of the family even if he or she is incacerated. But surprisingly enough, the society seems to be forgetting its role to the prisoners.
Even some close friends of someone incarcerated forget to visit them in prison.
I recently had a relative remanded, and all the time I paid him visit I could not hold my tears, simply because I found him living in terrible conditions. Moreover he was later acquitted after being found innocent.
Last week, when travelling in a daladala , I was prompted to write something about how prisoners need our help after I observed something.
I was in this Coaster bus, which operates the Mwenge - Posta route, and as we were approaching the Selander Bridge, a prison lorry usually carrying 40 inmates was passing, adjacent to the bus.
The prisoners started shouting at the driver of our daladala to assist them with some cash. Mshikaji fanya basi hata kidogo basi ya kwenda kununua ndizi mbivu? Literally meaning, could you help us with some coins to buy some bananas?
Without hesitation, the driver, whose name I came to discover later to be Salum, ordered his tout to give him 4,000/- in coins. The driver got the money, and then threw all of it inside the lorry, and the inmates started grabbing it.
The prison officer, who was in the same lorry with the inmates, remained laughing. Later, the prisoners took the advantage of the heavy traffic to thank the driver and wished him well.
What Salum did to prisoners that day taught many of us in that bus a lesson, that we all have the task to help those incarcerated.
During the 2000 Jubilee year, one top religious leader appeared in front of newspapers when he visited Segerea prison and gave the inmates food. I don’t think the same leader has returned to the same cell for past five years to wish the prisoners well.
Christianity and Islam teach that all human beings are sinners. In other words, all of us living in this world have sinned or did wrong in one way or another.
Since we are all sinners, it follows that we have all wronged those living in our neighbourhoods.
If there would be a court to judge our mistakes and our wrong doings, then all of us may deserve to go to prison and pay for our wrong deeds. Since we have no such courts, then we remain ‘not guilty’, and therefore not liable to any punishment.
We are therefore serene, since we have not been judged to go to prison.
Christianity and Islam, the major religious denominations here, teach that visiting prisoners is among virtues which should be propagated by the believers, but sadly, not too many of us visit these areas.
On weekends (which could be ideal to visit prisoners), most of us tend to do personal things, and the idea to visit prisoners does not in any way exist in our minds.
Religious beliefs should go along with good deeds, otherwise, religion becomes quixotic, a mere pastime without social impact or acts of faith.
In South America where liberation theology is practised, on prayer days many believers go and stay with prisoners the whole day, eating, drinking and talking with them.
We ought to consider prisoners as our fellow human beings who need our affection and above all, our love.
deomushi@guardian.co.tz
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