Govt allocates K7 billion for Prisons Service operations

——Commissioner of Prisons, Percy Chato, says Government has allocated K7 billion for the operations of the prison service throughout the country.

Mr Chato said the fund given to the law enforcement agency will go a long way in alleviating many challenges the Prison Service is faced with in the nation.

The Commissioner said this at Court Yard Hotel in Lusaka today during a breakfast meeting between the Prison Service and media personnel drawn from various media organisations.

He said so far Government has invested huge amounts of money in ensuring that prisons are decongested in the country in order to better the living standards of those incarcerated in Zambian prisons.

And Mr Chato has regretted the incident which happened at the famous Kabwe Mukobeko Maximum Prison where four condemned prisoners escaped in Kabwe recently.

Mr Chato told journalists that efforts to track down the escapees have been intensified, adding that the nation will be updated from time to time on the progress.

He said the Zambia Prison Service has since put in place adequate measures to ensure that such an incident does not occur in future.