Norway condemns status of prisons in MW

Norway says it will fight irregularities in the country’s prison service and justice system to ensure a positive welfare of prisoners and suspects.

The Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asbjorn Eidhammer said this during the handover ceremony of Mzuzu Girls Reformatory Centre valued at K50 million to the Malawi Government on Friday. The reformatory centre is the first girls’ reformatory centre in the country.

Eidhammer said his government is aware of the challenges Malawi is facing in ensuring the welfare of suspects and prisoners.

“Prisons in the country are congested, which is not ideal for prisoners’ reformation. The congestion also heavily affects sick prisoners and young offenders as they are prone to different forms of abuse,” he said.

He said the congestion is worsened by delays in the handling of court cases as remandees wait for a long time to face trial.

Chief commissioner of Malawi Prison Service (MPS) Kennedy Nkhoma said most of the prison structures were built long time ago and were not conducive for reformation of prisoners.

“We need more prisons as the increase in crime has led to congestion in prisons. The structures which were built in the past were meant to accommodate 5 000 prisoners.

“But as we are talking now, we have about 12 500 prisoners which is almost double of our total capacity now at 6 200 prisoners,” said Nkhoma.

He said it is high time people stopped taking prisons as places for punishing prisoners. He said prisons should be places where prisoners should be equipped with various skills so that they contribute to the development of the country when they finish serving their sentences.