The Zambia Correctional Service is governed by chapter 97 of the laws of Zambia (Prisons Act), which was under review in 2016 following the Service’s name change from Zambia Prisons Service to Zambia Correctional Service on 5^th January 2016. According to article 193 of the Republican Constitution, the Service is mandated to manage all prisons and correctional centres across the country.

Mission statement

To provide humane custody and quality correctional services in order to promote public safety and to contribute to the social economic development of the country.

The following are the functions for the Zambia Correctional Service:-

1. To provide safe and humane custody of inmates until they are lawfully discharged in order to safeguard the interest of the public;
2. To improve the existing prisons and reformatory infrastructure and increase their number in order to raise habitable standards of the inmates;
3. To effectively and efficiently manage human resources in order to attain their full utilisation for efficient service delivery to inmates;
4. To effectively manage and efficiently utilise logistical and material support service in order to efficiently provide custodial and correctional services to inmates;
5. To expedite the review of legislation relating to the treatment of inmates and juveniles and monitor its implementation in order to conform to the United Nations (UN) standard minimum rules for the treatment of offenders;
6. To provide for the integration of ex-mates into society in order to reduce recidivism;
7. To provide and disseminate information on the operations of the Zambian Prisons Service in order to increase awareness;
8. To cooperate with the other security agencies (local and international) in the dispensation of criminal justice in order to improve justice delivery to inmates;
9. To develop and implement an institutional capacity building plan for the effective implementation of the Prisons Service Reform Programme in order to effectively and efficiently deliver services to inmates; and
10. To research into and carry out educational campaign programmes in prisons and prison camps in order to determine the seroprevalence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to sensitise the inmates and staff on its dangers.