From Death Chamber to Airwaves: Bridge FM Broadcasts Hope From Chikurubi’s Former Execution Room
BRIDGE FM, a radio station operated by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS), is broadcasting rehabilitation and anti-crime programming to prisons and communities nationwide from a studio built inside Chikurubi’s former execution chamber.
The station occupies the room where condemned prisoners were once put to death before Zimbabwe abolished the death penalty. ZPCS converted the space into a fully functional studio, and Bridge FM now airs programmes on inmate rehabilitation, legal education, health, and anti-substance abuse campaigns.
The studio featured prominently last week when Form 5 and 6 students from St Ignatius College toured Chikurubi as part of a programme examining the link between drug and substance abuse and crime. The tour also took in Harare Central Prison, Chikurubi Female Prison and the Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit.
“This is where voices were once silenced forever. Today, those same walls carry voices of rehabilitation, education and hope,” an officer told the students during the studio tour.
Students were visibly moved by the visit.
“To stand where people took their last breath and now hear music and talk shows coming from there… it’s powerful,” one student said.
Officer in Charge of the Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit, Superintendent Maplan Kakoto, told the students that a growing number of young people were being admitted to the unit after committing offences under the influence of drugs, or to fund their habits. He listed theft, robbery, gender-based violence and drug manufacturing among the common offences.
Inmate Nigel Shumba, undergoing rehabilitation at the unit, told students his addiction began in Form 2 and eventually led him into manufacturing crystal meth.
“Once you start, it’s hard to fall back, it’s hard to quit. So I just urge y’all not to start in the first place,” he said.
St Ignatius College counsellor Fortunate Chokani, who led the touring party, said the college would continue partnering with ZPCS on future programmes.
ZPCS said the tours form part of its mandate to deter youths from crime and promote rehabilitation over retribution, with Bridge FM standing as one example of that shift in practice.
