Human rights advocate requests visit to Malawi prisons

Cape Town, South Africa - The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) has written to the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights to request a visit to Malawi prisons by the Special Rapporteur for Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, according to Nicole Fritz, Executive Director of SALC.

In making the request, SALC cited the well-documented history of appalling prison conditions in Malawi.

In the letter, the Centre requested that the Commission took up the matter at its meeting, scheduled for the Republic of Congo 14 to 28 November, 2007.

The letter pointed to press reports and to severely critical official reports by the Malawi Inspectorate of Prisons, a constitutional agency composed of judicial officers, prison officials and the Ombudsman of Malawi.

SALC also cited 'reliable reports' of extreme overcrowding, inadequate diet, shortage of clothing and blankets, lengthy detention without trial, sexual assaults on juveniles and deficiencies in sanitation and health care.

"Despite the most terrible overcrowding in Malawian prison, where it is not uncommon for detainees to spend more than five years in detention without ever being brought before a court and convicted, the Malawian government is insistent that it will not carry out any further homicide trials until it receives outside funding to do so.

"In these circumstances, fairly extraordinary measures need to be initiated in order to bring some relief to Malawi's prison population," the SALC boss said.