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THE Zambia Prisons Service (ZPS) has reiterated that homosexuality is not allowed in prisons because the vice is a crime in Zambia.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, ZPS deputy public relations officer Stephen Kagoli said the penal institution is governed by the Republican Constitution, which states that homosexuality is outlawed in the country.
“The Zambian Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, does not support sodomy and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) does not allow the practice of sodomy,” Mr Kagoli said.
Mr Kagoli said that whether committed in prison or outside prison, sodomy is an offence and if a prisoner is having sex with other male prisoners that inmate risks being prosecuted.
Mr Kagoli said ZPS is alert to provisions of the Constitution, Prisons Act and the CPC and it will not condone any behaviour among inmates which is in conflict with the country’s laws.
He said prisoners are aware about the service’s position on homosexuality because upon admission into custody, reception boards orient new inmates on the do’s and don’ts in prison.
“No prisoner can say he is ignorant about the issue of sodomy in prisons,” he said.
He, however, said there could be some isolated cases of sodomy but this does not mean that ZPS condones the vice.
He said inmates found practising sodomy are taken to the police which in turn can take them to courts of law if a case is established after investigations.
“It means that a particular prisoner can serve an additional sentence for the case of sodomy,” Mr Kagoli said.
Some research done in Zambian prisons suggest that unprotected sex among some male inmates, tattooing, injecting drug and sharing shaving instruments have been cited as the major drivers of HIV transmission.
This is why some proponents of the condom contend that Government should start distributing condoms to male inmates since sodomy has been cited as the main mode of HIV transmission in prisons.
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