Zimbabwe Releases 5,500 Prisoners

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 08, 2003

Zimbabwe Releases 5,500 Prisoners

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Zimbabwe Prison Services spokesman Frankie Meki said in Harare on Tuesday that a total of 5,500 prisoners have so far been released from the country's 42 prisons under the general amnesty proclaimed by President Robert Mugabe last week.

At least 3,600 prisoners were released over two days soon afterthe gazetting of the proclamation.

Meki said that of those released to date, 5,212 were males and 288 were females.

By the end of the exercise, nearly 6,000 prisoners will have been released as the government battles to reduce overcrowding in the prisons.

Prisoners who qualified for the general amnesty fall into several categories, including prisoners aged 60 and above serving determinate sentences and those serving life sentences on or before Dec. 31, 1985.

Zimbabwe's prisons were overcrowded and held close to 25,000 prisoners, yet the existing structures have the capacity to hold amaximum of 16,000.

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