CHALLENGES FACING THE EFFECTIVE PROTECTION OF PRISONERS’ PROPERTIES IN TANZANIA: AN APPRAISAL OF THE LAW AND PRACTICE
Protection of prisoners’ properties in Tanzania is one among of the human rights that is enshrined from the intentional conventions, regional and domestic laws. Prisoners are limited to enjoy some of the human rights including but not limited to the right to liberty in criminal justice system in order to maintain peace and order in society, to transform prisoners into better citizens and to make prisoners productive upon their return to the society through their release in lapse of their sentence or in case is the prisoners who are subject to the life sentence, then upon their release through the presidents’ pardon after parole prerequisites will have been met. Prisoners retain other human rights that are not subject to the reason of incarceration including but not limited to the right to life, free from torture and inhuman degrading treatment and the right to own property and protection of such property held legally. The prisoners’ right to own property and protection of such property held in accordance with the law is the main focus of this paper.
In Tanzania the principle and subsidiary legislations are crystal clear intended by the legislatures to protect prisoners’ properties that can be stored conveniently in a prison safe custody. In albeit, the principle and subsidiary legislations are conspicuous not intended to protect the prisoners’ properties that prisoners left in the society like cars, houses, animals and et cetera. The major challenges that face the effective protection of all prisoners’ properties in Tanzania include but not limited to the silence of the law to provide the manner for protection of the said properties that cannot be protected by the prison safe custody, the silence of the law to grant court power to make order during conviction for proper arrangement of the prisoners’ properties that cannot be protected under the prison safe custody and the silence of the law to impose duties to the members of the society that prisoners have entrusted them to manage their properties during incarceration period. Hence, there is a need to amend the current laws and the legislature to enact new Act that provides for the manner in protection of all prisoners’ properties in Tanzania so that the end of the effective protection of all prisoners’ properties can be achieved.
Keywords: Prisoner, Prison and Property.
