To ensure foregoing ends, personnel shall be appointed on a full-time basis as professional prison officers and have civil service status with security of tenure subject only to good conduct, efficiency and physical fitness. Salaries shall be adequate to attract and retain suitable men and women; employment benefits and conditions of service shall be favorable in view of the exacting nature of the work. (UNSMR 46 (3)).

The Maximum Security Prison in the Central Region of Zambia houses prisoners convicted for capital offenses or sentenced to death row or life imprisonment. Maximum security prisons are believed to have a high tendency for violence and working in such an environment can be both mentally and physical challenges for any individual. In order to ensure the efficient management of the prison’s affairs the prison makes use of a 5-shift system. These are the Main Shift, Sub-main Shift, A Shift, B shift and C shift.

In line with the directives of the rule 49 of the UNSMR, the Main and Sub-main shifts are made up of specialized officers with required in the technical instruction of the inmates, Medical services, Construction, Transportation, Escort Duty, Sectional Leaders, Feeding and Agriculture. These two shifts represent the permanent shifts with the Main Shift commencing from 7:45am to 5:00pm and the Sub-main shift commencing from 6:45am to 4:00pm.

The second set of shifts consists of officers with custodial duties. The A Shift is from 5:45am to 2:00pm, the B Shift is from 1:45pm to 10:00pm and the C shift is from 9:45pm to 6:00am. The aim of this process is to ensure that at every point in time there are officers present within the prison and at the rate at which they are changed their agility is maintained for security purposes.