Uncle Harvest: CONGESTION IN MALAWI PRISONS

MALAWI: Ralph Jooma, Member of Parliament for Mangochi Monkey Bay and Chairperson of the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament, asked the Minister of Homeland Security what he was doing about decongesting prisons in the country.

One question that Malawi has avoided asking is: “How did we get here?”

Several things should have happened that have not happened in the past 57 years of Independence, one of which is the lack of Prison Infrastructural development.

Other than Domasi and Mzimba Prisons, no significant infrastructural development has occurred in the Prisons Department since 1964.

What this means is that the available prison space is that which was meant to cater to the population and the rate of court convictions of the 1960s.

Of course, this challenge affects all the organisations in the criminal justice sector; police, prisons, and courts.

It was late President Nelson Mandela who said you can judge the soul of any nation by looking at how it treats its prisoners.

I dread to think that the condition of our prisons reflects our self-worth and value as Malawians. This calls for soul searching indeed.

The other story that is not told is that over 60 percent of our convicts are defaulters prisoners.

The courts sentenced them to a fine, in default of which they are serving an imprisonment term.

Why do so many people default on the payment of fines? It is due to their state of economic capacity. Poverty levels in this country contribute to the congestion in prisons.

Additionally, a look at police records will show that crimes increase during lean food periods. In other words, most of our convicts committed what could be termed “crimes of need".

In other words, a need forced them to commit a crime. If they had an alternative source of income they would not have stolen. Something needs to be done to help inmates become productive citizens.

The reform of the Prison Act is therefore long overdue.

Lastly, the government over 8 years ago allocated land for the purpose of the construction of a large prison near Chitedze on the outskirts of Lilongwe city.

Nothing much has happened other than the construction of 2 staff houses that are degenerating for lack of use.

Indeed, something needs to be done to decongest prisons and bring about some humanity in prisons.