Eugénio Laborinho spoke at the inauguration ceremony of the first of several virtual jails in the country, a project developed by the Catholic University of Angola and financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The holder of the Interior Ministry pointed out that the virtual visitation is a technological solution, which arises to mitigate communication barriers between inmates, their relatives, friends, lawyers, magistrates and other forensic specialists, now aggravated in times of covid-19 pandemic.
The ruler emphasized that, due to the impositions established by the health authorities, since March of this year, which fight against covid-19, the inmates have been deprived for several months of the visit of their loved ones.
"Today a new chapter in the history of the Penitentiary Service is opening, as it has at its disposal a modern tool to guarantee the effective human rights of the prisoners and the improvement of the working conditions of the staff, who will have the mission to implement and supervise the virtual parlatories", he said.
Eugénio Laborinho pointed out that besides many advantages for the prison service, the technological solution will allow the administration of justice to be carried out without the inmate leaving the prison, saving logistics and some situations such as escapes.
"It will also allow inmates to contact, during the virtual visit, their underage children, who are currently not allowed access to penitentiary establishments during physical visits," said the minister.
For foreign inmates, Eugénio Laborinho continued, it will be possible to have the same opportunities, being able to interact with family and friends, who are in Angola, in their country of origin and in other parts of the world.
In this first phase, 10 parlatories are still under construction, of which eight in the province of Luanda, capital of Angola, the rest in Bengo and Namibe.
In the second phase, it is planned to build 31 more parlatories for other penitentiary establishments in the country, equipped with 10 computers, for a service of about 70 inmates per hour and 350 per day.
For the first tormentors to come into operation, 71 penitentiary staff were trained by the Center for Human Rights and Citizenship of the Catholic University of Angola, in information technology, human rights, ethics and security, in order to ensure their normal functioning.
