Dar es Salaam – Home Affairs Minister Patrobas Katambi has called for a fundamental shift in the perception of prisons, urging the Tanzania Prison Service to move away from a punitive mindset and embrace a philosophy of transformation and rehabilitation.
In a statement made during a visit to the Prison Service headquarters in Msalato, Dodoma, the minister declared that prisons should be places where convicts become law-abiding citizens who contribute meaningfully to society, both during their incarceration and upon release
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However, this forward-looking vision starkly contrasts with the grim reality depicted in recent human rights reports and official audits.
The 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices by the U.S. Department of State described conditions in Tanzanian prisons as “harsh and life-threatening,” citing gross overcrowding, physical abuse, and inadequate sanitation.
The report noted that physical abuse of prisoners was common, with women prisoners reporting sexual harassment and beatings by authorities.
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Data from Prison Insider corroborates the issue of overcrowding, placing the prison occupancy rate at 109 per cent as of 2024, with over 32,000 individuals held in 126 facilities.
A report by Penal Reform International further highlights that overcrowding is a serious problem across East Africa, with Tanzania’s occupancy rate exceeding 145 per cent in some analyses.
“Prisons are not just a place for punishment, and we have transformed from that,” Mr Katambi said. “It is now a place for production, correction, and our people, our clients, our students, whom we can call by any name, ‘prisoners,’ but we try to call them ‘clients’ or ‘our students.’”
“They come to get training, entrepreneurship training, and self-reliance education,” Minister Katambi added in his speech during his February 3, 2025, visit. “When he leaves here, he has a profession.”
In line with the minister’s call for reform, the government has initiated several programmes aimed at rehabilitation.
The Tanzania Prison Service (TPS), in partnership with the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) and the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA), has enabled hundreds of inmates to receive vocational training.
In July 2025, it was reported that 201 prisoners had graduated with skills in trades such as carpentry, welding, tailoring, and mechanics. The government also launched a Five-Year Strategic Plan (2025/26–2029/30) to achieve food self-sufficiency within the prison system through expanded agricultural production.
Despite these initiatives, their practical success has been undermined by systemic failures. A Performance Audit Report by Tanzania’s National Audit Office (NAO) published in April 2024 found an “inadequate design of the rehabilitation programmes for prisoners; inadequate implementation of rehabilitation programmes; absence of a reintegration component in the prisoner rehabilitation program; and inadequate monitoring and evaluation.”
The NAO recommended that the TPS provide the necessary materials and tools for training and establish formal reintegration programmes for discharged prisoners.
