
Presidente da República, Daniel Chapo, recebe saudação dos membros do Conselho Consultivo e da Guarda Penitenciária pela passagem do 50 aniversário do Serviço Nacional Penitenciário (SERNAP)
Maputo, 28 Jul (AIM) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Monday warned that the future of the country’s prison system depends on a paradigm shift to rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Speaking at a ceremony in Maputo marking the 50th anniversary of the national prison service (Sernap), Chapo stressed “criminal justice is not just a technical matter but is an expression of our political and ethical vision of the democratic rule of law and of the type of society we want to build”.
Chapo described Sernap as “an instrument of the State at the service of social peace, democratic legality and the promotion of human dignity”. Over the past half century, Sernap had consolidated its role in the justice system. “Its history and trajectory reflect the history of Mozambique”, he declared.
Recognising the challenges facing the prisons, notably overcrowding, Chapo stressed that the government is promoting reforms to “humanise the penal system”.
“We are investing in introducing penalties that are alternatives to prison sentences”, he said, “in order to promote a more rational, proportional and efficient justice”.
Chapo also announced that the government is strengthening professional training and agricultural labour programmes in the prisons, transforming them into “centres of training and dignity” as well as deepening partnerships with civil society, churches and international partners.
He said that solving the problem of overcrowding could not be achieved solely by building more prisons. “We need a justice system that does not merely punish, but recovers, which does not exclude, but reintegrates”, he stressed. Sustainable security would only be possible “with more social justice, more opportunities for all, and more social inclusion”.
Chapo told the Sernap professionals “your work is noble and essential for the functioning of the country as a whole. Every action of yours for the rehabilitation of an inmate is a direct contribution to the building of a fairer and safer Mozambique”.
(AIM)
Pf/ (318)