The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)
Pilirani Phiri
22 December 2003
Lilongwe — Prisoners at Maula in Lilongwe recently had all the reasons to smile when they received laundry items, held several activities including acrobatics, and treated to a live Charles Nsaku performance courtesy of the Penal Reform International as one way of celebrating International Human Rights Day which falls on December 10 each year.
The celebrations saw the performing prisoners do their thrilling acrobatics and Nyau under the scorching sun. However, the weather instantly changed to a heavy downpour which forced the dirty, hungry looking, and shabbily dressed inmates to rush to their tiny cells and consequently forcing Nsaku to perform the following day.
Speaking at the function, Executive Director of Prison Outreach Malawi Nellie Mwadiwa drew deafening applause when she told them they too deserve to have their human rights and dignity respected purely because, she said, it is their universal and inborn right.
Mwadiwa also said Maula prison is too congested and yet inmates are locked up in their cells as early as 3:30 pm, saying this was bad, especially during this season when it is very hot. "I appeal to the authorities to consider adjusting the time that inmates are locked into their cells. Locking up several inmates in a tiny cell by 3 pm with this heat is killing," said she while urging the prisoners in an evangelical message to pray hard saying Jesus came for sinners like themselves and not for saints.
The Chronicle also learned from one convicted inmate at the prison that some of the problems the inmates face are a lack of medical facilities, insecurity between prisoners themselves, and homosexuality which, he said has seen 'marriages' between juveniles and senior prisoners. "We face several problems here especially when one is sick. It takes time for you to go to hospital and as a result some just die right here. Fierce fights between inmates also frequently erupts here and most juveniles are sodomised in exchange for protection and other necessities in prison," said the prisoner.
Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre Executive Director Desmond Kaunda, guest of honour at the function, told prisoners that some of them are having their rights violated in prisons due to unfair trials. "I know there are some of you here who have been on remand for a long time but have not yet been brought before the courts. You should all know that if someone has been on remand for more than six months without being told his charges - the state is violating the human rights of that particular person," said Kaunda as the prisoners whistled in applause.
Penal Reform International National Coordinator, Cliford Msiska concurred with Kaunda in an interview that access to fair trial is a major problem in prisons and is leading to congestion in most prisons of the country. " Access to a fair trial is the major problem in most prisons in the country. There are some remandees who are brought to court after almost spending three years in custody when they cannot even defend themselves because they might have grown old and can't remember their witnesses or their witnesses might even have died," said Msiska.
Msiska further said the other touching thing is the fact that prisoners are only given one meal a day which he said was not proper and called for the authorities to look into it. He said most prisons in the country do not have adequate uniforms, saying he has received reports that in some prisons like Chitipa prisoners walk around naked because they have nothing to wear.
Speaking on behalf of Regional Prisons Officer, Superintendent Donald Peter Kaluvi assured the visiting team which comprised of officials from Ministry of Justice, the Police, paralegal NGOs, and the media that prisons in the country and Maula in particular have reformed saying: "Warders have realised that prisoners have their human rights too even in prison and that people are sent to prison as punishment and not for punishment".
Maula prison which was built to accommodate about 900 prisoners has currently 1,735 convicted and remanded prisoners. Out of the number, 63 are juveniles with 10 of them serving murder sentences . There are also only 13 females at Maula with eight of them serving murder sentences.
As part of celebrating the International Human Rights Day, the Penal Reform International in conjunction with other paralegal NGOs, and Center for Legal Assistance also held similar activities in other major prisons including Mzuzu prison.
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