Treatment and rehabilitation offenders: Options for social workers in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Treatment and rehabilitation of prisoners has evolved to be a critical cause of concern when dealing with offenders within correctional institutions. Despite the good intentions of prison rehabilitation services, studies have shown that there is a high rate of recidivism among offenders in Zimbabwe. This paper sought to examine the challenges faced by social workers and to investigate the gaps that exist within the rehabilitation framework. The research was qualitative in nature making use of in-depth interviews and key informant interviews as data collection methods. The study found out that social workers had correctional, rehabilitative and reintegration roles in prisons even though there were no clear cut demarcation of roles among social scientist, resulting in rehabilitative roles and behavioural roles of social workers not being considered in most prisons as social workers concentrated on other prison duties that are more authoritarian in nature. The study therefore recommends the development of a standard offender based manual for rehabilitation for all prisons in Zimbabwe and the need for forensic social work training to all rehabilitation officers working in a prisons.