Kachere Rehabilitation Centre faces congestion

Acute congestion has hit Kachere Rehabilitation Centre located in the heart of Lilongwe City.

This was revealed during a theatre for development awareness campaign organised by the Centre for Legal Assistance (Cela), which is aimed at improving living conditions and access to justice for vulnerable youths in detention centres.

It emerged, during the campaign, that the centre has 300 inmates against its recommended capacity of 150.

According to the centre’s station officer Baldwin Chisomo there are currently 259 convicts, 30 remandees and 11 young offenders on murder remand.

Said Chisomo: “These conditions are bad for the boys’ health as diseases can spread very rapidly.”

He thanked Cela’s efforts in ensuring that inmates at the centre are well looked after.

“Cela provides soaps, medicines and an ambulance which ferries our sick boys to the hospitals. Sometimes they bring doctors who treat the boys right here at the campus,” he said.

Speaking in a separate interview, a member of Cela’s board of directors, Rex Mapira, said his organisation also facilitates camp court whereby a magistrate is brought to the centre to handle cases.

“We also pay fines for minor offences, especially for those who have served over six months of their sentence. Our major aim is to provide a forum to find solutions for juvenile delinquency,” said Mapira.

Cela also supports the centre’s primary and secondary schools through the provision of teaching and learning materials.

The organisation is running similar programmes in Nkhotakota, Dedza and Ntchisi districts.