Prisoners to grow own food: Pokanis

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
Correctional Service deputy commissioner for corporate affairs Stephen Pokanis, pictured, says tough times will force them to think harder about how to feed prisoners in view of budget constraints.
“We will now have to till the land to make gardens and harvest our own food to feed prisoners,” Pokanis said.
“Growing food is our priority in 2018 and we have to do all we can within our means to live within the budget to support the prisoners’ ration throughout the country.
“We should see that in six to 12 months’ time, there will be food on the table for prisoners.
“This is also our contribution to the national government’s directive to grow the economy.”
Pokanis said during a three-day workshop that the tough economic situations would make them creative to make up for the shortfall of K5 million in their 2018 Budget.
“We see there is potential within the 2018 budget that a small percentage of it will be used to meet our debts,” Pokanis said.
“We see that we have land, prisoners and we also got officers,” Pokanis said.
“We also have churches and provincial governments to support us in the provinces. All we need to do is to get ourselves organised.”