9781422280010

Malawi’s main facility, Zomba Central Prison, is more than 80 years old and receives little if any funding formaintenance. Themajority of the nation’s prisons are concrete and brick, with roofs made of sheets of iron. At Maula Prison the women’s section is completely made of iron sheets, which makes it extremely hot during the summer and extremely cold during the winter. Often these sheets are rotten and leaking. At Kasungu Prison the iron roof was replaced with a network of barbed wire. Like most African prisons, those in Malawi are extremely overcrowded. The Malawi Law Commission in 2016 found that prisons there held almost three times the recommended number of inmates, putting them at risk of developing tuberculosis and other diseases. As of 2016 there were over 14,430 inmates in Malawi prisons, which were meant to house between 5,000 and 7,000 inmates. The capacity of Zomba Prison is 800, but as of 2013 it housed more than 2,000 inmates. There are so many prisoners in the new Mzimba Prison that they have only about eight square feet (less than 1 square meter) each. There is not enough room for people to lie down when they sleep, so they sit one in front of the other with their legs bowed. Even when they do have room to sleep, few have beds or even mattresses. Most sleep on the bare floor with a single blanket. Most prisons in Malawi lack electricity. During the winter, then, prisoners The combination of overcrowding and poor maintenance has left the toilets unsanitary. Condemned prisoners at Zomba have no toilets at all and must use buckets. In most prisons, sewage backs up into the water supply and comes out on the inmates when they take showers. At night they have no access to toilets and must use buckets or plastic bags. Although inmates in Malawi receive a uniform when they first arrive, it soon wears out. At Zomba and Nkhata Bay, most prisoners walk around almost naked or in rags. Soap is a rare thing for prisoners. Inmates at Mzuzu Prison have gone more than five months without receiving soap from the prison administration. In- mates at Maula said the administration there never gave them any soap. What little they had came from family members. This lack of soap and cleanliness is largely responsible for the lice and scabies from which so many prisoners suffer. Food is another concern. Inmates in Malawi get only a single meal a day, usually a gruel made of corn, boiled beans, and sometimes sweet potatoes. They receive very little meat or fish. Inmates at Mzimba Prison in northern Malawi face starvation, as they often spend days without eating because authorities claim there is a lack of funding. Often food is donated by families and other supporters. spend more than 60 percent of their time in darkness. Extremely Unhealthy Conditions

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the prison System